The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Witch
by I.K.A. Valian
Summary: The Twilight Witch, evil to the core, consumes worlds. Hyrule is next. Luckily, I've played the game, but is that enough to stop an evil so great that the Triforce is powerless against it. Spoilers Ch.13UP. R&R Pls.
1. Sorcery

"I do not own The Legend of Zelda!" – I.K.A. Valian

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"Speech" 

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

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_Hmm…_ I thought. _What to write now…_ I leaned back in my rickety, old, wooden chair that I've had for over 18 years. The legs wobbled from side to side, making creaking noises as they did so, until the entire seat of the chair came to a rest leaning just right of center. Arms crossed and head craned over the back of the chair so that I was staring at the ceiling, I imagined several scenarios, attempting to figure out how to insert myself logically into one of my own stories, a Twilight Princess story nonetheless. 

_I can't use that 'sucked into the TV' scenario or that 'I wish I were in the game' scenario because they're all way over done._ I kept beating my brain from the inside. _This isn't going to be easy._ While the imagination and logical centers in my brain beat war drums over how to pull it off, I focused most of my attention back onto the computer set up in front of me.

_Perhaps if I have some inspirational music,_ I thought as I reached out to the mouse and double clicked on the Music Player 3000 Plus icon. A window popped up on the screen, prompting me to choose the playlist that I wanted it to load into the program. I double clicked the folder labeled, 'Zelda'.

After a few moments, during which the computer hard drive made several successive clicking noises, the Player interface came up on the screen and the first song started to play. The soft notes of the opening theme song for Twilight Princess came from the two speaker satellites on either side of the computer screen. That finished, I clicked on the Internet Browser and started looking up the local news.

_Ahh, _I thought, _nothing like listening to Zelda to calm the nerves, ha-ha._ I stopped thinking about how to write my next story as I focused more on the story that came up in front of me.

"A serial killer is on the loose in the Hicksbooring area," I read aloud.

_That's the town next to here, not even two miles away,_ I thought.

Skipping a few lines down, I read aloud the next part, "The unidentified woman kills her victims by draining all of their blood in an occult ceremony, purported to transfer all life energies to the drinker."

"Well that's stupid," I said. "Who would believe that drinking blood would give eternal youth? That only works in those cheesy horror stories."

_Regardless of the stupidity of the act,_ I thought_, she did kill those people over it. What's wrong with the world we live in?_

The next paragraph described how she got to her targets. "So," I said, "she seemed to enter people's houses as if they welcomed her in." _Who would welcome people into their homes when they knew there was a killer on the loose,_ I wondered. I closed the Internet window, listening intently with my eyes closed and humming along to the end of the credits' theme song of Twilight Princess.

_I am totally obsessed with this game,_ I thought. _But who said that was a bad thing, eh? He he he._ After the song was through, I closed the Music Player 3000 and then stared at the empty sheet of white digital paper in the word processor, waiting patiently for me to write the beginning of the story. _Well, crap,_ I thought while sighing dejectedly,_ that didn't work out so well._

Yawning, I glanced at the clock on my computer and noted that it was going on Eleven p.m. _Wow, didn't know it was so late. Guess I'll head to bed and try again in the morning. I'll have all day tomorrow to come up with something. I just love Saturdays, no work, now college, no driving, just lazing around and writing._

I stood up, the chair beneath me groaning a little as I did so. After I was sure the computer was on its way to shutting down, I made my way to my messy bed and slumped into the covers. I barely put my head onto the pillow before I was asleep.

I didn't remain asleep for long though. I woke up, sat up, and looked around. I felt completely rejuvenated, but something just didn't feel right. _I feel like I slept a full night, but it's still night out._ A quick glance at the glowing red number on my clock told me it was 1:38 in the morning. _Something's wrong, I can feel it._

I turned to the blind-covered window next on the right side of my bed. I pulled one of the plastic shingles down a little bit and looked out the window. It was raining out side, but other than that, nothing was out there. I was about to shrug the feeling off when a dark figure moved past my window, almost faster than I realized someone was there.

_What was that?_ I felt my heart start pounding in my chest, my thoughts immediately going to the story I had read earlier. _Is that the crazed psycho serial killer? _I jumped out of bed, my heart thudding loudly in my ears as I quickly made my way out of my room and down the hall just in time to see my sister opening the door. Before I could do anything, a small dirty hand reached in the door, grabbed my sister's hand, and pulled her violently out the door.

"Sherry!" I shouted. _No!_ I took one step forward when the lights in the house went out and the front door slowly creaked open. There, in the door, stood a young woman in a drenched hooded cloak. Every time lighting flashed, it lit up the intruder's silhouette and amplified the horrible presence that she projected into the room. When the thunder rolled across the sky, it seemed to shake the floor boards in conjunction with her footsteps, making her seem even more imposing.

"Aww," she said in a sweet, seductive voice. "Did I hurt your feelings by only playing with your sister?" I stood my ground, but not in defiance. I was thoroughly terrified of this creature before me, intruding into my home. "Don't worry," she cooed in a way that made me feel as if I stopped breathing, "I'll make it up to you, if you're a good boy."

I could feel her on me, all over my body. It felt as if she was touching me from five feet away with warm, soft, moist hands. I suddenly felt lightheaded and sick. "Mmm," the woman groaned, breathing in deeply. "I've not had one as strong as you in a long time." She grinned widely and licked her lips.

Lightning flashed and for an instant, I saw into the enticing depths of her dark purple eyes. In that moment of frozen time, a force reached across the distance between us. I felt it enter my mind through my eyes and force my body to follow its commands.

"Ahh…" she sighed. "There we go. Good boy, nice boy. Soon you'll feel very good." The woman then turned around and walked back to the front door, only to close it. The moment the urge to move on my own came up it was violently suppressed by the presence that had made itself at home within me.

The woman walked back and past me, into the kitchen. She flicked her wrist and the lights suddenly came back on. My body turned, against my will, and followed her. I tried to fight against this oppressive force controlling my body, but it was no use. I came to a stop right behind the woman, who had pulled back her hood to reveal long, soft blond hair and fair skin.

When she turned around, she was holding a long knife in her right hand, one that my mom used to cut the bones of chicken and beef with. _This is a dream,_ I thought, _yeah, I'm dreaming, dreaming. I have to be._ But the closer that woman got, the more I realized I really was awake. But those thought were pushed away by the force within me, replace with the urge to pay attention to her face

_Well… she is pretty,_ I thought. _Not a blemish on her anywhere. But… No! This isn't right._

"Shh," cooed the woman as she plastered herself against my right side. She set the knife down on the table next to us as she started running her hand through my hair and rubbing my back with the other. "Don't fight it," she said, her voice flowing like silk and tasting like honey to my ears. While she rubbed my back and head, she slowly slid her body up and down my side. I felt my will power fading as she sucked the energy right out of me. The straw that broke my will power's camel's back was when she licked me on the side of my face.

I shivered and any semblance of self control I once had, dissipated into nothingness. I found myself imagining how this poor bedraggled woman needed my help. How she needed my warmth, my strength, my blood to make her healthy again. And before I knew what was happening, I was holding out my wrist and watching the woman bringing the knife to bear on me.

_Noooo, _I moaned internally, _this isn't right. I… shouldn't do this. But she's so helpless… Nooo, she's evil… evil has taken advantage of her. Evil is inside of her… she needs my blood to save herself from the evil. And she looks so helpless… Nooo! She has to… has to… has to get rid of the evil blood first!_

In a daze, I grabbed the woman's wrist with strength I didn't know I had. She was as surprised as I was when I took the knife from her grip and cut a long gash into her forearm. For several tense milliseconds I stood motionless, the knife in my hand dripping crimson on to the floor alongside the blood that gushed from the wound on the woman's arm.

Then all hell broke loose.

The presence that was controlling me disappeared as the woman screamed bloody murder into my ear. I stumbled backwards and collided with the refrigerator, watching the woman in a befuddled confusion as she pressed tightly against her arm. Her ragged breathing was intermixed with incoherent mumblings.

After a few moments she fell silent. Then she looked up at me and I felt my chest tighten and my blood run cold. The unbridled rage; the waves of unadulterated hatred rolling through the air in a palpable wave of vehemence hit me and I literally stopped breathing.

"YOU!" she spat at me. Her word hit me as if it were a physical blow. "I'm going to KILL you!" she shouted, pointing at me with her bloodied hand. I thought I felt my heart stop after I literally felt her words pounding into my body. "DIE!" she shouted, leaping into the air as if to grab my neck and push me through the refrigerator.

Unknowingly, I still held the knife in front of me. It was as if the woman and the knife blade melded and became as one. It all happened so fast, I didn't have time to think about what happened until it was too late. She didn't hit me and kill me as she had intended, instead she crumpled onto me, leaning against me. Her shocked look mirrored my own as she backed away and looked down at the handle sticking out of her gut.

"I… I…" I stammered. She reached down and traced the end of the knife handle, almost as if she were in a trance. Then she looked back up at me and smiled, insanity now beamed from her eyes. The intensity of her happiness was too overpowering for me to stay there any longer.

I slowly backed up into the hallway, leaving the woman there reaching a bloodied hand out toward me with her sadistic smile plastered on her face. Once I felt far enough away, I turned and bolted back toward my room. Once I had the door shut, I leaned against it and sighed in relief.

_It's finally over,_ I thought, but for some reason my heart wouldn't stop pounding.

Then the door exploded. I was sent flying across the room where I slammed into the wall and slid down onto my bed. When I looked up, I was again confronted by the insane look of the woman I had left in the kitchen. Only now she wasn't smiling, now she was growling.

"Do you honestly think that you can defeat me?" She asked slowly. Gone was the syrupy silkiness in her voice, replaced by razor sharp knives. "I'm going to kill you very, very slowly," she said in a provocative and deadly voice. "I'm going to drink your fluids, eat your organs, and make your skin into a new cloak." My stomach churned at the images that were flying through my head, but I was too afraid to throw up. I felt her presence start to concentrate within my room. It made me feel on guard, as if I was about to be attacked, to which I responded by unconsciously grabbing the closest thing to my right.

"Now," said the woman, grinning once more from ear to ear in insane delight, "it's time to feast." She reached a hand forward and the presence within the air shifted, instantly, lowering the temperature in the room by thirty degrees. Before anything else happened I held up whatever I had grabbed on to in front of me and closed my eyes.

A deep pounding filled the air as some large force collided with the object in my hands. Also a very strong wind started to blow through my room, accompanied by a loud sucking noise. The pounding turned into a very deep and powerful thudding, capable of lifting me off the floor with every thump. I opened my eyes, but was unable to see clearly because of the intensity wind. However, I was able to hear the tortured screaming of the woman as she was sucked into the vortex that had appeared between us.

Once the woman's scream disappeared, I suddenly felt myself get lighter. I barely had time to realize I was being sucked into the vortex before I was already through the mouth of said vortex. I was falling. Falling. Falling for what seemed like ages.

_So… tired… I think… I'll sleep some._ I fell and fell through the windy shadows that had engulfed me until I splashed into a pool of water. _Cold! Cold! Cold!_ I swam as fast as I could to the surface, taking a deep breathe when I got there.

After taking a few seconds to calm myself down, I looked around at the pool I landed in while treading water to stay afloat. I was in the middle of some kind of forest glade, one that was filled with a large pool of running water. The water itself was very refreshing, it actually made me feel less tired and from the water that had gotten in my mouth, it tasted pretty good too.

I swam to the shore and climbed out of the pool I had landed in. I sat in the cool night air, shivering in my wet pajamas. _Where am I? What happened back in my room? And what happened to that woman? _Many more questions entered my mind, but none of them were answered.

I sighed and stood up. Now I wasn't shivering just because of the cold alone, now I realized I was in the middle of the frightening, dark, intimidating woodlands that surrounding the water filled clearing. _I've never been alone before,_ I cried to myself. A wave of panic rolled through me before I put it down with the thought, _I'm ok as long as I keep a level head. Yeah,_ I thought with a snort, _easier said than done._

I spun around, hugging my arms and hopping from foot to foot in an attempt to stave of the numbness I felt creeping inward from my fingers and toes. That's when I noticed a path cut into the trees on the other side of the glade. _Where there's a path, there are people, right?_ Shrugging I started to make my way around the water's edge toward the path entrance. _I hope they're nice people,_ I thought as I stepped onto the worn path.

A wave of déjà vu passed over me with a tingling sensation that made me look twice. _Have… I seen this path somewhere before… No, that's impossible. _Shrugging the feeling off, I turned and walked down the empty path cut into the trees.

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I took down my other Zelda attempt because it was, in my opinion, not so very good at capturing the reader, while this baby on the other hand, makes up for that in spades. At least I think so. 

Next chapter, we'll be getting into the actual game of which I was unknowingly injected. Thanks for reading. Please review.


	2. Salutations

"I do not own The Legend of Zelda!" – I.K.A. Valian

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"Speech" 

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

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The path I followed opened up into a small clearing with a beam of moonlight shining down in the middle. It wasn't a very large clearing and I crossed it in less than half a minute. But it was very pretty, especially the way the moonlight seemed to turn the randomly placed tufts of knee high grass into something like a patch of ghostly hair swaying in the calm breeze that blew through the trees. 

On the other side of the moon lit clearing, another pathway was cut into the tree line. And this path seemed better trodden than the one I was just walking down. In fact, the air held a sweet odor that made me think of…

_Animals… farms! Who runs a farm in the middle of a forest?_ Again, a wave of déjà vu washed over me, sending tendrils of tingling pins and needles down my spine. _This place seems so familiar. But I've never, in my whole life been here. At least I don't think I have._ I shook the feeling off. _This place must be reminding me of someplace else, that's all._

Forging ahead, I found that the tree canopy overhead was thinning out. It eventually got to the point where the moon light was lighting the entire pathway. I slowed my pace when the path made a sharp turn between two large trees, past which my entire vision was cut off.

_Wonder what's past here. I hope I'm not getting nervous because of nothing._ After rounding the corner and walking into another clearing, I came to an awestruck and frightened stop. My heart leaped into my throat and did a jig while my brain just stopped working.

There in front of me were two creatures, the likes of which I had never seen before. _Well,_ I thought, _I have seen them before, just not…_ And then it all clicked, all the puzzle pieces fell into place and formed the picture that answered my questioning mind. _Oh my Lord! Oh good Lord! I'm… I'm in Twilight Princess. I'm really in it. Cowabunga dude!_ I could hardly keep myself from jumping up and down behind the backs of these creatures. _I don't know how or why… well it probably had something to do with that psycho blond lady, but still! This is awesome!_

_But first, I need to get away from these monsters before they find me out and probably kill me._ I started to back up, but I didn't watch where I was going and stepped on a twig. The twig, in its defense, held up my weight with all the might of its wooden heritage. However, under the unyielding weight of my foot, its power failed. And thus, it snapped with a loud and satisfying pop, alerting the Bulbins of my presence and location.

_Crap._

They spun around, made guttural noises at each other, and then hobbled toward me with their clubs held high while screeching their battle cries. I turned to run back the way I had come, but found that way blocked by a another creature, this one growling. _Oh Lord, there's more of them!_ I whirled around and watched the Bulbins close in on me, their clubs held above their small round heads, and their beady, glowing red eyes glaring at me full of hatred.

I shut my eyes, crouched low on the ground covering my head, and waited for the end to come. _I don't want to die! _I wailed inside. _ I want to go and see this world. I want to find Link and- Link! I need to find Link! He can help me find a way home._

I opened my eyes and was about to stand up when the creature growling behind me leapt over me with a snarl and pounced onto the Bulbins, knocking them both back into the air. I stared slack jawed as the grey and white blue made fast work of the two vile monsters in a matter of minutes. When all was said and done, the two Bulbins laid lifeless on the ground. Above their quickly immolating corpses sat a decently sized wolf. I could tell it was a wolf because I have one as a pet at home.

"Ah, err," I mumbled. The wolf's ears perked and he turned around to look at me, staring and befuddled. _The wolf just saved me… but, Oh wait! That's gotta be him. Who else could it be?_

"Err- Hi Link!" I waved and put a goofy grin on my face. It was hard to tell the wolf's response, given his limited facial features that could convey human emotion. _I think he's surprised... Hmm, now what do I say?_

"Umm… Listen, I know why you're here." The wolf just kept watching me patiently, sometimes tilting his head from side to side. "You're here because you need to find a sword and a shield, right?" If dogs could drop their mouths in surprise, then this one just did. Before I could say anything more, the dog stood up and quickly made for a path different path that led out of the clearing.

"Wait," I shouted, "Link!" The wolf stopped and looked over its shoulder. "Can I help, please?" I asked. The wolf stood still for a few moments, staring straight at me, before he gave a gruff 'woof' and trotted down the pathway. _What does 'woof' mean?_

Taking it as a form of affirmation, I followed the dog down the path and came out the other end, into what I now knew was Ordon Village. _This is so cool. I'm helping Link on his quest._ I looked around, surveying what I could see of the village.

Directly in front of me I could see Hanch on top of a large torch lit rock formation. On the other side of a small stream, in front of a watermill, was another torch lit area. Then I spotted Link, running away as best he could from the hawk attempting to peck his brains out. As he made his way over to where I was standing, the hawk gave up the chase and flew back to Hanch on top of the stone tower.

"Didn't get very far, did ya," I said. Link made an indignant snort and started to head back toward the pumpkin patch below the stone tower. "Link," I said, "hold on." The wolf stopped moving and looked at me over his shoulder. "Do you think you could get up there with Hanch and… I don't know, scare him?" Link looked between me and Hanch a few times before snorting again and walking back toward the pumpkin patch. _This won't end well._ Two minutes later, Link was back, with a few tufts of fur missing.

When he stopped in front of me, he started to lick the wounds he could get at while growling slightly. I sighed. _Ok, time to say hello to Midna. I hope she doesn't react too strongly._

"Ok," I said, "this is where I come in right." Link looked at me and nodded. "First, I'm going to go down there and distract Hanch while you have Midna help you jump from that rock ledge up to the roof of the shop and then onto the roof of the house behind the shop. Got that?" After I was done speaking, I was on the ground before I could blink. But it wasn't Link that had knocked me over. No, it was a large, semi-transparent red hand that extended from the hair of a small imp like creature, also semi-transparent, that materialized from Link's shadow.

"Ouch, that hurt," I hissed while rubbing my head. _There are some nasty rocks on the ground here. Ouch, ouch, ouch._ I looked up and met the hostile red eye of none other than Midna, and she didn't look too happy to see me. _Oh, right, Midna._

"Heh heh, hello Midna," I nervously laughed. "It's nice to finally meet you in person." She continued to scowl at me and before long that semi-transparent red hand again extended from her hair and wrapped itself around my neck.

"Tell, me" he hissed, "who sent you!" It was becoming harder to breathe as the air passage in my throat was squeezed slowly shut. "Was it Zant?" she shouted in her shrill voice. "Did he send you to finish me off? Huh, did he?" I pulled on her magical appendage with all my strength, feeling all the while my lungs crying out for relief. I managed to look up into Midna's face and saw the seething anger radiating from what was visible of her face beneath that fragment of the Fused Shadows that she wore as a helmet. "I think I'll get rid of you now, just to be safe," she said coldly. _Oh Lord, who knew she was **this**… err… excitable. _I tried to breathe in as my lungs once again made their needs clear to my numbing mind. _Need… to breathe…_

I force what air was left in my lungs out and managed to say, "Please… let me… explain…" before the grip around my neck tightened further. _This… is it…_ My vision started to fade and I could feel my heart start to slow down.

But that was not it. The grip around my neck loosened and I found myself sucking in air faster than I thought possible. My heart was pounding in my ears as I coughed and hacked. It took the better part of ten minutes before I was breathing regularly again.

"Well," Midna said irately, "explain yourself. Now!" I nodded mutely. _Great, what do I tell her? 'Oh, hello, I'm from another world where this entire place is a video game. I know about you cause I've beaten said game several times.' Ha! She'd be choking me again before I even finished talking. No I've got to think of something…_

"Well," she said. She stared at me as if trying to burn a hole through me. _Hmm, how could I safely know about Midna? How, how, how, how…_ I glanced at Link for any semblance of reassurance, but he was lying on stomach with his head on his paws, glaring at me intently, if not accusingly. _Well, he's no help._ I turned back to Midna and suddenly was struck with an idea. _If I was sent by Zelda, then all would be good, right? No, no, Zelda is in the Twilight right now, that wouldn't work. Hmmm…_

"I'm tired of waiting for an answer," Midna growled. _No time left, got to think of something. _"If you're not going to tell me, then I suppose there is only one thing left to do," she said, grinning her one fanged toothy grin.

"Okay!" I shouted. "Okay, it isn't as if you'd believe me anyway." Instead of reaching out with her hair again to choke me, Midna crossed her arms and continued to glare.

"Try me," she said while deadpanning. _I guess I might as well tell her the truth. I can't think of anything else._ Link perked her ears at me but was otherwise unresponsive.

"Fine," I said. _Here goes nothing. _"My name is Valian. I'm from another world where everything that has happened to you was… err… foretold in exact detail." Midna and Link continued to stare at me, but remained silent. I continued. "I guess you could call me a student of your journey, and for that matter, of the history of Hyrule in general." _Ha ha, this is great stuff. And it isn't like I'm completely lying. _Midna shifted her gaze to look at Link, who looked back. Then Midna turned back to me.

"I suppose that you might be telling the truth," she said calmly, though she didn't betray any of her intentions or emotions in her speech or body language. "However, I now want to know how you arrived here. And tell me," now she leaned in close, "what do your oracles say will happen at the end of this little journey, hmm?" Now both Link and Midna were staring at me eagerly. _Great, now I'm an oracle… wait that might just work. Yeah, I'm an oracle. Or better yet, I'm an oracle in training. Yeah! That's perfect._

"Well," I said slowly, "I don't know exactly how it ends, because I'm still in training." Midna, for a very short instant, looked depressed. But that was violently, and quickly, replaced by an indignant scowl.

"What kind of oracle are you if you can't tell me what's going to happen?" she scolded angrily. Link looked back and forth between the two of us and woofed silently. "Come now," she said coercively, "you must know something." I shook my head and again Midna indignantly scowled. "Well then, I won't be needing you." She turned and floated away. "Come Link, we're leaving," she ordered as she passed the prone wolf. _I can't let them leave me behind. Hmm, what can I tell them that won't give too much away? Oh I know!_

"I can tell you one thing," I said loud enough for the floating imp to hear. She stopped, but didn't look back at me. "It's something that's been nagging at the back of my mind for a while now. The power you're searching for. It's a dark and ancient power that was split into four pieces. One of those pieces lies within the… umm… Forest Temple. But as far as I can tell, that area is covered in twilight. You have to be in human form to get the piece of power that you're looking for." _I hope I didn't lay it on too thick._

Midna turned back around and cautiously floated toward me. "Perhaps you can be useful," she said mischievously. I swallowed loudly. _I don't really like the look I'm getting right now. I think I preferred the Bulbins. At least they didn't look at me like a piece of meat._ "Very well," she said, "you may help me, but only as long as you can keep providing me with the information that I require to get what I want." _Yes!_

"O-okay," I said. With that, Midna disappeared in Link's shadow again. Link though wasn't looking too pleased with the outcome of the conversation. He whined as he waltzed over to the rock sitting next to the store. "Right," I said, "time to get to work." _This is so awesome,_ I thought as I moved in front of the rock formation.

"Hey, guy!" I looked up and saw Hanch leaning over the edge of the rock. "What are you doing down there," he asked. "Don't you know there are feral beasts wandering around?"

"There are!" I asked, feigning shock.

"Yeah," Hanch responded. "I've been driving them off with this hawk here." Hanch held up his arm where a hawk was precariously perched. Its tail feathers kept moving to balance the bird as Hanch's arm wavered about. "Just earlier I drove off a beastly wolf that was trying to tear up the pumpkin patch."

I noticed Link's furry head pop up behind Hanch. I couldn't help but grin as I said, "You mean that beastly wolf behind you." Hanch immediately stiffened and slowly craned his neck around to see Link's furry mug. There wasn't a second's delay as Hanch leaped up and off the side of the rock formation into the pond on the other side, screaming like a girl the entire way. _Oh my lord, that is so funny!_

Link jumped down from the rock formation to find me rolling on the ground, holding my side, and laughing like there was no tomorrow. After a minute or two I managed to get myself back under control, though I was still breaking into small fits of laughter every now and again. _Okay, what's next? Oh, yeah, the shield. _"Next is the shield…" I said.

I looked over at the watermill and saw Mayor Bo and Jaggle talking, conspiratorially as it were. _But, how can we get into the watermill if those two guys are standing right there. They'll hear us rummaging around the inside for sure. I guess Link'll have to scare them too… or maybe I could go lead them away… nah, I prefer scaring them away, much more entertaining. Hehe… _Link must have deducted my train of though because he started to growl.

"Oh, come on Link," I said. "It's not as if you could just walk up to them and kindly ask them to leave." Link looked at the two talking across the small stream once more before he whined again and trotted up and over the bridge. I watched him make his way behind the tree on the far side of the house. He was able to sneak pretty close to them. _He's pretty good at the stealth thing. I suppose I'll fix that…hehe…_ I ran across the small wooden bridge and into straight at the Mayor. "Look, look!" I shouted. "A beast has snuck up on you!"

The mayor and Jaggle both spun around and stiffened up. Link though looked like a found out puppy, caught red handed, or if you prefer, found with his hand in the cookie jar. Either way, he didn't look menacing at all, but both Mayor Bo and Jaggle ran for the hills, where I presume, they hid inside of the mayor's house. _This is fun, heh._

Link didn't agree though, he was snapping his mouth and growling at me. It sounded like gargled 'goo goo ga ga' to me. Midna materialized from Link's shadow and hovered next between me and the wolf. "This village is full of idiots," she said, incredulous at the scene that had just taken place. Then she turned to me and said, "I hope you know what they were saying."

"Not to worry," I said, "I know exactly where the sword and shield are." Link was still growling his annoyance behind Midna. "I'm sorry Link," I said, "But it had to be done. They didn't get hurt, did they?" Link finished his tirade with an annoyed and muffled 'woof'. "Okay," I continued, "the shield is in this building here," I threw a thumb over my shoulder at the watermill, "and the sword is in Rusl's house, which we'll get last because it requires dirtier work." Link started to growl again. "Don't worry Link, I mean the kind of dirt that you dig up." Link stopped growling and tilted his head to the side with his ears perked.

"Hurry up," Midna said impatiently, "Open the door so we get the shield already." _Geeze, she's impatient._ "Alright, alright already," I said. I tried to turn the handle on the door. It clicked and rattled a few times, but it didn't open. "Uh… great, I guess we'll have to go in the hard way."

"What's the problem?" Midna asked, though she clearly didn't want the obvious answer.

I turned to Link and asked, "Do you think you can jump onto the waterwheel and then onto the roof?" He barked once and started to wag his tail. _I'll assume that means yes. _"That's good cause there is an open door up there. Once inside, the shield is on the opposite wall. It's nailed up there pretty good, so you'll have to give it a few good knocks before it comes down. Once it does, presto, you got yourself a shield."

Link woofed softly and walked off. "Better hope you're right," Midna teased.

"Go see for yourself," I said, "I'll be waiting out here." Midna scowled, crossed her arms, and floated off to guide Link up to the roof. _This is working out great. If I can follow these guys around, I'm bound to find a way to get home. And then I'll be able to put this whole thing behind me… or rather, maybe I should write it all down and post it on the internet… Maybe…_

* * *

Woo, this is fun. Writing Midna is hard, fun, and entertaining all at the same time. Well, tell me what you think, good... bad... or somewhere in between. I can't tell, but that's only because I created it. Thank's for reading. 


	3. The Twilight Witch Attacks

"I do not own The Legend of Zelda!" – I.K.A. Valian

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"Speech" 

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

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The silence that engulfed the village made me feel hollow inside. I looked up and studied the stars while I waited. _So different. _A sudden feeling of loss washed over me. _Though I think that this is awesome and all, I still want to go home. _A meteor raced across the sky, its tail streaking across the sky. Before the falling space debris disappeared below the horizon, it exploded in a brilliant explosion of white light. 

_Whoa!_ I rubbed my eyes and looked into the sky again. By the time my eyes readjusted to the darkness, the meteor was gone. _That was awesome. And those kinds of meteors are rare. Those exploding kind… or were they comets. Bah, I don't remember._

The wall of the house I was leaning against emitted a dull thud. I craned my head up, searching for the source of the disturbance. Another thud sounded from the wall, and then I could hear a loud crash inside. _Oh, he must be knocking down the shield. Hope he didn't hurt himself._ Then silence reigned once more. Even the bugs weren't making noise. The water was still and the wind did not blow.

I looked closer at my surroundings. _I never realized how down to Earth this place is._ I walked over to the wooden table and ran a hand over the wooden planks nailed side by side. _This table looks exactly like one would back home. Their kids have even drawn on it. _I traced the outline of a crude animal. _That one must be Talo's, he never really liked those monkeys until he was imprisoned with one._ On the other side of the table someone had drawn the images of each kind of rupee and below each the exchange rate with each other. _This one is definitely Malo's drawing. How does someone that young know so much about money?_

I glanced around the village and what I saw made me feel calm, at peace even. I even started to ignore the silence. _This place is starting to make me sleepy. _I yawned and leaned over on the table, resting my head on my arms. _I think I'll just close my eyes while I wait…_

"Ahhhh!" I screamed as I shot three feet into the air and spun 180 degrees. The loud splash that broke the crystalline silence and made my insides do the same thing a shook up bottle of soda pop does when opened, was doggy paddling to the small wooden pier build onto the shore. Breathing rapidly while clutching my chest, feeling my heart doing a marathon run, I watched a soaking wet Link climb out of the water. He shook back and forth fiercely, drenching his surroundings with wet-dog water.

He padded slowly up to me with his head tilted. _Why is he looking at me like that? _ "What?" I asked. He shook his shaggy head and looked off into the distance.

I followed his line of vision and saw Rusl slowly making his way down the path that lead up to his house. He held a torch in one hand above his head to light his way through the darkness. In his other hand, a sword bobbed up and down as he barely managed to limp forward. He winced in pain every time he moved, but his eyes burned with determination that wouldn't let him stop.

_He really took a beating from those monsters. I feel for the guy, but he's keeping the sword in his house. Still, I don't want to put too much stress on the poor guy. _"Link," I said solemnly. The wolf looked up at me as I continued, "There is a soft patch of dirt on the side of Rusl and Uli's house. You should be able to dig your way in and out. The sword is somewhere inside their house." Link grunted and started to move forward. Raising my voice just loud enough for Link to hear, I said, "Wait Link." He stopped and looked at me expectantly. "Stay to the shadows, I'll distract him while you make you're way around him, okay?" Link paused for a moment and then nodded.

_Okay, now to have a nice chat with Rusl._ I walked past Link, over the small bridge, and along the uphill path toward Rusl's house. As soon as I was within range of the light emitted by his torch, Rusl stopped and the bandages around his torso tightened up as he raised his sword to point at my chest.

"Sss-Stop!" He stammered. The light wavered as his quivering legs strained to hold him up. The sword in his hand wove back and forth through the air. Despite all of that, the swordsman had a presence that made me feel like he could still do a decent amount of damage. I felt rather than heard or saw Link slinking by in the shadows. "Who are you? Speak!" _Well, here goes nothing._

"My name is Valian," I said while reaching for the sky. "I've come to…" _Now what, why am I here? Eh… might as well use the same excuse._ "I know where the children are." We stood there in silence, sword wavering in my direction for minutes on end. I got tired of staring at the same rock so I glanced into Rusl's eyes to see them watering as he looked upon me in disbelief.

"You… know where the children are?" I nodded slowly and then watched the sword lower until Rusl stabbed it into the ground. "Please tell me," he pleaded pitifully, barely holding himself up on the sword, "where the children are." Before I could answer him his buckling knees finally gave way to gravity and he fell. I rushed forward and, while being as careful as I could, helped him stand again. He leaned heavily on my shoulder as he cried unabashedly.

"They're safe in a village nestled at the foot of the Mountain of Death." He only wept more at the news, but his smile couldn't be interpreted as anything but blissful, relieving joy. "I haven't been there myself," I continued, "but… I just know they're there." Rusl's joyous expression slowly fell into one of confused suspicion.

"How can you know they are in Kakariko?" I shifted his weight as he tried to lift the sword with the arm he had slung over his shoulder. _I might as well just advertise I'm an Oracle. It's not like it's hurting anyone._

"I know because I have the power to see things." I watched Rusl for a change, but he still regarded me indifferently. Reluctantly, I slowly said, "You could call me an oracle if you want…" Rusl turned to stare at the ground, his serious expression causing worry to spring up in the back of my mind. _If he doesn't believe me, I'm gonna have one hell of a time explaining._

"I see," he said at length. Finally, he looked at me and smiled. "I'm glad then that you took the time to come and let us know. I'm sure my wife, Uli, would appreciate knowing as well. Eh, Valian was it?" I nodded. "Right, could you help me to my house? Uli's there waiting."

"Sure." I felt Rusl put more of his weight onto my shoulder. I struggled at first to find a balance, but once I had a good enough hold on the injured man, I started moving. Together we limped up the short hill toward Rusl's house. Uli stood on the front porch next to a lit torch. _That is one **very** pregnant woman._ Her bulging abdomen was at least half a foot out of what had to be her normal frame.

"Uli," Rusl crowed. "This young man is an oracle. He's told me where the children are!" Uli didn't respond. "Uli, didn't you hear, the children are safe." Still Uli didn't respond. I suddenly found it hard to breathe for the second time that night as Rusl tightened the arm that was slung across my neck. I managed to turn my head and saw Uli's passive face mirrored on Rusl's.

"I've come to finish what I started, you naughty boy." _That voice… it couldn't be her. That psycho-killer! _The air dropped 40 degrees in an instant. White clouds of hot breathe strained from my mouth as I barely filled and emptied my lungs past Rusl's inhuman grip. "In a way I must thank you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have gotten all these amazing powers." I turned my head, with much difficulty, until I could see Uli more clearly. Uli was still there, but now the ghostly image of that lavender eyed witch overlaid her body. _Oh God, not again._ "I'm going to rip your skin off piece…" Uli, controlled by the witch, took a step forward. The image of the crazed woman grinned maliciously and enticingly. "…by piece for what you did to me. You will be grateful, of course." The Uli-Witch stepped within inches of my writhing, strangled form. _I've got to get away from her. She'll kill me._

"Don't worry, naughty boy. I'm only here to thank you… …and kill you." I felt the ghostly image brush her lips against the side of my head. _I'm not going to let her take over again!_ Her presence once again surrounded me, penetrating my body, making it numb. It suddenly became twice as hard to breath. A low to the ground mist rolled across the hill, swirling in around and around, centered on Uli's possessed body.

"Uli," I choked, "Uli, fight her!" Uli's mouth twitched dementedly as the image of the witch smiled sensually. The sudden grasping of my arms, legs, and torso made me gasp. A possessed Pergie, Sera, Bo, Hanch, and Jaggle were lifting me into the air. "Stop," I gasped past Rusl's grip of steel. "You've all got to fight her!"

"Hehehe," the witched giggled. "It's no use, naughty boy. Even you could not stop me." _Oh yeah, then what do you call those knife wounds? _"Not to worry, my child, you'll be dead soon and I'll be free to consume this world and all of its wonders… hahaha… Hahaahaa… Haaaahaaahahahahahahaha!"

_She's insane!_ _I've got to find a way to get through to them, or they'll die and then Talo, Malo, Colin… The children! That's it!_ "Did you hear her," I choked, "She's going to kill your children! You have to stop her!"

"I said before," the velvety voice whispered into my ear, "it's no-" The voice stopped and Uli's face twitched. Shaking her head the witched tried once more. "It's no-" The voice stopped again, this time Uli grimaced and grabbed her head. _I must be getting through!_

"That's right," I said, "Talo, Malo, Colin, Beth, and even Ilia. They're all going to die. The witch just said she'd kill them." I felt the inhuman strength of the villagers below me start to fade.

"Colin…" mumbled Rusl.

"Talo… Malo…" Pergie and Jaggle said slowly from my right.

"…our Beth…" Sera and Hanch moaned.

"…sweet Ilia…" drawled Bo from beneath me.

"No!" screeched the crazed woman's image. The woman's specter was slowly floating away from Uli until it hovered over me. "How can you fight me? It's not possible!"

"And if killing me slowly by ripping my skin off is her version of a nice way to die, just think…" The witch's image became larger and moved to hover down close over me, glaring daggers, but grinning maliciously.

"I'm going to kill you," she laughed through clenched teeth.

I felt the grips of the towns people tighten. _They're going to tear me apart. Just a little more and they should be free…_ "…of what she's… going to do… to… your children…" I coughed and sighed in relief at the same time, falling on top of the six people that were just recently holding me up.

The image fading fast, like a fog being burned up by the sun in a desert, but the grimace of lustful hate was unmistakable. "You may have… broken my control over… a few, but… this isn't over… over… over…" The last word echoed into the distance, fading with the witch's image. _Thank you, God. Thank you oh so much!_

With the image went the oppressive presence, the low lying mist, and the cooler temperatures. Relieved I sighed again and took in my surroundings. I was sitting on top of Mayor Bo. It almost seemed as if the entire town was out to kill me. _This is ridiculous. If she can get to me here, I'm not safe anywhere. But at least these guys are safe…_ I glanced around once more. _…for now._

I stood up and made my way around the pile of villagers, checking to make sure they were all alive and just out cold. They were. After I was sure they'd be okay, I walked up to Rusl's house and tried the door handle. _I hope I didn't keep Link waiting._ Inside the house was a mess. Something had happened in here and it wasn't pretty. _Looks like the witch had something waiting in here too…_ Unfortunately, Link wasn't anywhere to be found. And neither was the sword. _I guess they came, they saw, and they conquered…_

I left the house and felt the air in my lungs leave on its way to the afterlife. The sun was just coming up and the valley looked absolutely beautiful. The trees and grass were a deep shade of green, a fact which was hidden in the dark. The air smelled of fresh pine mixed with the sweet nectar of the flowers and grasses. You could almost taste the soft, golden bounty that lived in this valley.

Sound had finally returned to the small community, birds were chirping excitedly and flying through the air, the water trickled down the stream and turned the wooden waterwheel. Over head I heard a hawk cry out its morning hunger. Somewhere in the forested area behind me I heard an owl give its morning 'hoot' before it went to sleep. The air was cool against my skin and moving through the valley in a stead, but not too strong, gust.

Later that day, I was wandering around the small spring I landed in earlier. It was the only place I could find where the villagers would stop bothering me about their children. Now that the sun was up, I could see how truly beautiful this spring was. However, nature had lost its breath-taking effect on me after the sun rose.

_I'm so bored. I wish I could have followed Link into the Twilight… Oh well. I guess I really am no adventurer when it comes down to it. So what's the point in trying? I mean, that Witch did nearly kill me… twice, not to mention Midna's little outburst._ I sighed. _I feel so useless. How am I going to get home?_

"Howdy stranger." I instinctively jumped and spun around while holding my hands out in front of me to fend off whatever it was that was bout to attack me. It was a girl. A breeze blew through and her knee-length red and blond hair. I suddenly lost the ability to breathe again. As the girl attempted to subdue her unruly hair once more, I became lost in her twin green orbs. After the breeze died down, the girl faced me again and asked uncertainly, "Are you alright?"

I was barely aware enough to nod, though I did so at length. She wore a skin tight, brown leather jerkin and a green, cloth gown held in place with a leather belt. The girl walked into the clearing in front of the spring, looking this way and that, taking in the view. I, on the other hand couldn't stop staring. I think I even started to drool. _Wow… she's pretty…_

"Excuse me. Hey!" I shook myself out of my stupor and found the girl standing in front of me. Her expression of worried concern was bewildering for a moment before I realized I _was_ drooling and I was still holding my arms in front of me. "Are you sure you're alright?"

After shaking my head and rubbing my face vigorously, I looked at her again and nodded. _Gotta keep my mind on the present. _"How can I help you?" I asked.

"Well," she said reluctantly. She smelled like strawberries and fresh grass. Her voice sounded like the expressive opus of a master violinist. She turned around and daintily wandered back towards the pathway that lead to the village, her hands clasped behind her back. "I heard from Rusl that you were an Oracle. Is that true?" _Oh, so that's what this is about._

"Yeah, I'm an Oracle…" The girl turned around, eyes alight. "…but I'm still in training." That bit of news didn't seem to dampen her spirits a bit. He bound over to me, grabbed my hands, and held them in front of her. I swallowed hard at this new intimate contact.

"Do you think you could please tell me…" I swallowed hard again. "…what happened to my family in Kakariko?" That's when I really looked into her eyes. _She's completely desperate. I'm such an idiot. She's worried about her family and all I can think about is… bah. Let's see, what do I tell her?_

"Uhh…" I let go of her hands and turned around to face the spring. The trickling of water moving quickly over stones soothed my nerves. _Maybe I should find out more about her before I tell her anything._ "First, tell me your name. And we'll go from there." I felt the girl nodding behind my back. I watched the water move through Ordon Spring as I waited.

"My name is Jess… Jess Natalia," she said. I turned around and looked at Jess. She was searching the ground with her eyes now. _She looks so… lost. I want to help her._

"Okay, Jess, how did you end up all the way in Ordon?" I crossed my arms.

"Don't you know?" she asked me curiously.

"I… uh… yeah I uh…" _Oh crap, what do I say now? _"I would know if I were done with my training. I'm still in training, so I can't really pick up on the finer details of the… er… future and stuff. The only thing I've really seen is really important, world changing events and… uh… such." _Way to go! BS all the way. Now, if she finds out the truth, she'll hate you. Idiot!_

"I see… In that case, how is the location of the children world changing?" she asked. _There you go, idiot, that's the kind of thing you wanted to AVOID. Stupid! Baka! _While I berated myself internally, Jess turned and started to meander around the perimeter of the spring. When I was finished with the mental beat-down, I found that Jess had made it to the other side of the spring and was bend over, hugging her knees while staring into the crystal clear depths of the spring.

"I think it's world changing because the chosen hero will be saving them. Twice I believe." _There, that's a good reason._ Jess looked up from the spring to me. Her hair fell in cascades around her face which caused my heart to leap into my throat.

"You… think it's world changing?" _What is with her? She sees right through everything I come up with. I give up._ I nodded vigorously. _I'll just agree with her to make her happy._ "I suppose not everything you see would make sense, even to you, huh?"

I was about to respond when someone grabbed me by the back of my shirt and pulled me into the forest and tossed roughly onto the ground. Standing up, I found myself face to face with none other than Link, the friendly neighborhood Hero. He was even sporting new attire, the traditional green tunic and hat. _In person… that hat really is weird. I suppose the rest of his outfit looks fine, but… seriously, that hat._

Link just stood there as I critically looked him up and down. Link's shadow started to move on its own. At first I thought it was the trees over head moving, but when the shadow itself lifted off of the ground, I knew it was in fact Midna, the not so friendly neighborhood Twilight Princess. _She doesn't look too happy._

"It seems that in order to retrieve the power which I seek, the Oracle is required to come with us." I stood still, waiting for her to continue. She growled and lashed out, socking me in the head with her small fist. My head was knocked back from the surprisingly strong blow. "That means you stupid," she shouted. "Come on we don't have all day." Midna dove back into Link's shadow and he promptly took off down the path that I just now noticed we were standing on. Stunned silent, I could only think of one thing. _But… I'm not supposed to go on the quest…_

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Okay, so what do you think? Be honest, please. Oh and this story needs reviews like a baby hippo needs milk from the mama hippo. So please review. And if you do, could you tell me if my writing is good or not, cause that's the reason I'm publishing on this site, to become a better writer. With reader's input, I beleive it can happen. Oh, and I also don't mind ego stroking reviews. My ego likes them too. Thanks for reading._  
_


	4. Heart Entrapment

"I do not own The Legend of Zelda!" – I.K.A. Valian

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_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

"Speech"

_'thought speech'/**'thought speech'**_

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_Link truly is a beast._ I walked up to and stood next to a satisfied Link and surveyed the scene in awe. Link just took on and defeated four Twilight messengers, alone. _Those things weren't that huge in the game, or that fast and strong. That whole fight was insane. He was all over the place. And just when I thought that last one was going to screech and resurrect the other three, his sword explodes through the things' head. It was… so awesome!_ Link finished cleaning his sword off on the grass and then performed his trademark maneuver, two swings in front of him followed by a two twirls and a metal 'shing' as the blade slid neatly into the sheath. 

"Link?" He turned and looked at me curiously. "Can you teach me how to do that sometime?" He just shook his head with a knowing smirk and walked away. _He even knows he's cool. Damn, he's good._ Link continued on out of the clearing into the next one over, the one containing Faron Spring. I followed in his steps, but not before watching the four decaying corpses (_Whew, those things stink!)_ start humming, turn into multitudes of small black squares, and then disappearing into the sky.

I found Link standing in front of the Faron Spring with his arms crossed. He was concentrating on one of the rocks jutting from the landscape on the other side of the water hole. _What now? We just stand here and wait for something to happen._ I glanced around the spring and then, again, copied Link and crossed my arms and stared that one of the rocks. _This is very boring. I thought we were going to the Forest Temple._

"I thought we were going to the Forest Temple. Why are we stopping here?" I started to tap my foot and twisted my head left and right agitatedly. Several seconds went by and nothing happened except that I stopped tapping my foot. _Stupid rocks, I can't even tap my foot. Can't a guy be impatient! _

**_No, they cannot._**

I jumped and looked around nervously. _What the heck was that?_ "Did you hear that?" Link looked at me with concern and slowly shook his head. "You didn't hear that?" Link again shook his head.

"Maybe he's losing his mind," I heard Midna jibe from the shadows.

I ignored the imp and continued to look around, but I couldn't find anything other than the two of us standing here. _What are we waiting on anyway? I don't want to stay here if I'm going to start hearing voices in my head that aren't my own. _

**_Very well then, you'd better listen well._**

I jerked and spun around, crouching down in case I had to jump out of the way. _I know I'm hearing things now._ "Link," he turned and looked at me again, "I'm definitely hearing someone. You sure that there isn't anyone here?" Link opened his mouth to respond, but a sudden wave of nausea passed over me and before I could hear what he said, my head became very heavy and the visual world around me disappeared into a mess of black darkness.

_'I thought that when I black out, I'm not supposed to be aware of it. What in the world is going on?' _

**_'I've brought you to the spirit plane, Young Oracle.' _**

_'What?' _I felt alarm run though my being, even though I couldn't feel my body. In fact, I couldn't feel my body at all, it was missing. '_Who are you? Why did you bring me here? And why did you call me an oracle? And where is this? Why am I even in this game? What's going on? Where's my body? What happened to me?' _

**_'I can not answer those questions to which I do not know the answer. I can tell you who I am. I am one of the Spirits of Light, protectors of Hyrule. I reside over the Hylian Province of Faron and am called by the same name.' _**

_'Wait, wait. You are Faron, the Spirit of Light that Link just freed from the curtain of Twilight?' _

**_'That is correct, Young Oracle. And if you require additional reason as to why I call you such, no one told you of the events that transpired to free my Light from the grips of the shadow creatures. However, you knew what would happen before it even occurred. Is not that foresight the key ability of an oracle?' _**

_'I suppose so, but I only know that because… well it's hard to explain, but I didn't foresee it under some mystical power that I have. If anything, that power resided with the creators of the game that I played. And they aren't here to tell me what was going through their heads, so I really am not an oracle in the true sense. Just… don't tell anyone that, please.' _

**_'I do not think you understand, Young Oracle. You may not realize it, but there does reside a power deep inside of you, one that is the exact opposite of the evil that entered this world when you did. Your power, however, is dormant. It cannot be access by yourself consciously, though perhaps you've felt it when dreaming.' _**

I was astonished. _'I have power? Isn't that kinda too convenient? I mean if this were a fan fiction, it would have Marty Stu written all over it.' _

**_'It matters not weather you believe me, your power exists just beyond your reaches. If you did not have this power, you wouldn't have believed that such a place as this existed while in your own world. It is this power that sleeps in you. But… there is a way to enable you to use that power, Young Oracle.' _**

_'Ok, now I know you're making this up. I really must post this on the Internet when I get back. This is just too good to be true. I mean, 'you have power that I can release' and 'believe me or not it's there', this is all too much-' _

**_'What is your answer, Young Oracle?' _**

I mentally sigh. _'This is a lot to deal with, you know. I mean, all my life, this entire place, even you, was make-believe. And now I'm faced with a dream come true. You'll probably say that it was this power in me, the one I felt when dreaming. Yeah, so what? I dreamed of really being in the Zelda world since I learned it existed. It's just… it wasn't real. It couldn't be. And now, it suddenly lands in my lap and is as real as my left pinky, which at the moment is probably lying in your spring.' _

**_'Have you decided?' _**

Knowing what the spirit wanted me to say, I decided to relent and just say what he wanted. _'Yes, I'll want to unlock that power. Especially if I'm going to help Link on his quest and defeat Ganondorf. I still can't believe all this is real.' _

**_'Then you must travel to the Princess of Wisdom and receive her blessing. The Chosen Hero will accompany you there. She will know the steps you must take to become what it is you were destined to become.'_** The swirling mists of darkness were moving now. The stuffy atmosphere I'd become accustom to was starting to dissipate. Before the darkness receded completely, however, Faron called out to me one last time. **_'A word of warning, Young Oracle. Until your counterbalance is defeated, she will gain power beyond what this universe is capable of containing. She will become unstoppable if left alone and both you and the Chosen Hero are still unable to even defend against her powers until you acquire the Blade of Evil's Bane.' _**

_'But how-'_ and then the foggy darkness lifted completely.

I slowly opened my eyes, letting the waning sunlight adjust my eyes until I could look around comfortable. I was sitting next to a crackling camp fire. A man with an afro hairdo sat next to me on a log. A bird had decided to make a nest in his hair at some point in the past.

"Oh," the man smiled and feebly waved. "Hello. I'm Coro." I grunted and sat up. Behind me was Coro's hut, though it looked more like a rundown shack. _This guy really is a bum._

"Hi, I'm Valian. Uhh…" I scratched my chin in thought. _Hmm… I suppose I should do what Faron said. But Link's supposed to accompany me to the castle. _I looked around, but the only ones within sight were me and Coro. "Do you know where Link went?"

"You mean your silent friend?" I nodded. "He said he had to go get something from deep in the forest. He even bought an extra bottle of lamp oil to get there." _Oh crap, he went to the Forest Temple and left me here. _"He said that he'd be back after he finished finding whatever it was he was looking for. Say pal, do you want a Lantern? I've got a special going right now and we're giving away free Lanterns. Though your silent friend is the only one who's taken me up on the offer so far." Coro looked down sadly.

"Sure." Coro looked up, smiling. _Looks like I made his day. But I'm going to need a Lantern if I'm going to get through that miasma fog in the forest._ Coro pulled a clinking Lantern out of a bag by his side and handed it to me. The way is swished around made it feel like a liquid was swishing around inside.

"Why don't you practice by lighting that fire over there?" I nodded and turned around, holding the Lantern at chest height the whole time. _How does this thing work?_ I studied the Lantern for a good ten minutes before I figured out that the button on the side that I thought was a fuel plug was actually an igniter button. Ready to light the camp fire, (_When did that go out?_), I leaned down and got as close to the embers and charcoaled wood as I dared. So I pressed the button and a flame sprung with a flare into the fire chamber below the handle. By some magical force, the camp fire also caught and the blaze I woke up to came back to life. _Wow… fire._

Feeling dramatic and overcome with silliness, I held the lantern over my head and in a voice modulated to sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger, I shouted, "And man… has conquered… _fire_!" I listened to my voice echo into the distance. _I am such an idiot._ _Now I have to get to the Forest Temple. _Coro, now shocked speechless, stared at me like I'd lost my mind.

Without another word, I waved farewell to Coro and took off in the direction of the cave. But when I got to the mouth of the cave, I found myself staring into the drooling jaws of a carnivorous plant. _I do not have time to deal with these stupid creatures._ However, every time I tried to sneak past it, the Deku Baba snapped its bulbous head at me, attempting to chew my eyeballs out. I tried once more to get past, but the plant flung its head at me and knocked me back a few feet.

"Okay, that's the last straw." I rolled up my pajama sleeves and walked up to the man-eating plant. It flung its head at me again and snapped its jaws at me a few times. _This thing needs a Tic-Tac (A/N: "Don't own.")._ I clenched my hand into a fist and punched the plants head as hard as I could. It reeled backwards with a garbled screech. _Playing all that boxing in Wii Sports finally pays off. _

"That's for being such a pain in the ass." I leaped at the plant before it could recover and grabbed the things' vine-neck just below the head. Then I started pulling back with all my might. "This might hurt."

It wasn't as easy pulling as I thought it would be. The head kept thrashing from side to side and I could feel the muscles in the long vine writhing and contracting, trying to retract the head. _This thing is stronger than it looks. _

The plant started screaming and panicking as I pulled the long vine that was its body out of the ground. With a wet pop, the vine came loose from the ground and the creature fell limp.

"Finally." I dumped the dead creature on the ground and walked slowly forward. _I'm beat, and from just one monster too._ I looked back and the dead Deku Baba caught my eye. _It almost looks like a fleshy version of the Ball and Chain… I wonder…_ I go back and pick up the plant corps. _The vine is light enough, I wonder though if it will actually do damage. Can I even swing the thing?_

I pull on the vine and the bulbous head flies into the air. I get up a good rhythm when another Deku Baba suddenly sprouts from the old ones base plant. _Ooh, target practice. _The new Deku Baba leaped out at me, but it didn't get far. I swung my leafy version of the Ball and Chain and neatly decapitated the new Deku Baba with a loud snap.

The head lands a short distance away, quickly dries out, and forms a brown husk. _Wow, that was easy._ I stop swinging the Ball and Vine and sling it over my shoulder. _Now that I have something to attack with, I can hopefully make it safely to the Forest Temple. _I suddenly feel like someone is watching me. I turn around and scan the trees, but I can't find anything. _Wierd, must be my imagination._

I slowly approach the imposing cave, pulling out my new Lantern, and keeping a sharp eye out for monsters. _I remember that in this cave there are a lot of bats, rats, and one or two Deku Baba._ After traveling into the cavern a little ways, I come upon a lit torch. _Ah, I see. This is the first marker. Link lit this a while ago. I've got to hurry if I want to catch up to him._

I started to jog through the cave, holding the Lantern out in front of me to light the way. I nearly didn't dodge out of the way in time when a Keese swooped down and past my head.

_Whoa!_ I spun around and saw the squeaking bat coming around for another pass at me. _Not this time, you don't! _

I unfurled the Ball and Vine, swung the leafy ball around a few times over my head, and let the thing fly at the flapping bat.

It smashed into the Keese with a satisfying pop and seconds later the Keese was no more than a puff of smoke.

"Wow," I said, looking down at the Ball and Vine in my hands, "I wish I had this thing when I played through the game on the other side of the screen." _I've no time to dillydally, got to keep moving._ I slung the Ball and Vine over my shoulder again and continued on my way.

I ran into several more Keese on my trek through the dark cave, a few rats, which were harder to kill with the Ball and Vine because they were on the floor, and finally, a third Deku Baba, which died just as easily as the second one. At last, I emerged from the other side of the cave, a few rupees richer and confident in my abilities with the Ball and Vine. _Link's not the only one with moves any more. Heh, heh. _

I held one of the blue rupees I got in the light over my head. It was definitely a jewel of some kind. _Kind of looks like a sapphire. Either way, this blue one is worth five green ones. And added to the two green rupees and that yellow one I found, I've got a grand total of 17 rupees, whoopee! _

I pocketed the rupees in my pajamas. _I need to get some real clothes. These pajamas don't look like their going to hold up for much longer. _Again, I felt like I was being watched. I made furtive glances to my right and left, and then slowly turne around to scan the darkend cave entrance. I sighed in releif when I saw nothing. _I'm just psyching myself out. I've got to stop._

With the cave behind me, I made tracks toward the poisoned swamp. It smelled like rotten eggs mixed with baby throw up and dirty diapers, all of which were left in a plastic bag that was set out in the sun. "Oh god," I cried while holding my nose and wiped my suddenly blurry eyes. _This stench is horrible. It's a wonder Link could come through here with a dog's nose let alone a human one. _

With my nose in one hand and the Lantern in the other, I edged closer to the wooden pier surrounded by the horribly smelling purple fog. _I can't even see the bottom. _I tentatively put my foot into foul smelling miasma and when I didn't feel any different I took a quick step forward with my eyes closed. When nothing happened, I opened my eyes and found that the purple fog had lifted and evaporated in the area directly around me, or rather, the lantern I was holding. _I don't want to be in here longer than I have to be… Oh god, the smell's in my mouth. _While I took a second to retch, I realized something. _I have absolutely no idea how far the other side is. _

Shaking my head, I set my jaw and sprinted into the miasmatic fog. _I may not have a map, but I've played this game enough to know there is another side to this place._ I ran and ran, holding the bright Lantern above my head as I went. Tears fell from my eyes freely as the purple fog stung and burned them. I felt my hair grow heavy with beads of condensed poison. It did the same on my skin. But, like a block head, I ran on regardless.

I was just about to run up the opposite embankment when my Lantern gurgled and a 'poof' later, it was out of oil. _Oh crap! It's not far now, I'm going for it!_ I leaped as high and as far as my strained leg muscles would let me. I erupted from a wall of purple miasma and slammed onto the dry, clean, uncorrupted ground on the other side. I rolled several times before I came to a stop, breathing heavily and still holding my nose. _Oww…_

I lay there for several minutes before I managed to catch up with my breathe. _Now that I think about it, the smell isn't that bad anymore._ I stood up and slowly let go of my nose. Seconds later I had both my hands clamped over it again. _No, no, no, I was wrong. I was very wrong, it smells worse. _

Turning around I bolted through the wooden gateway behind me into another cave. _I've got to get away from that smell. It's in my hair, on my skin, it's in my mouth… again. Bleh._ I slowed to a stop and leaned over. Whatever my body was trying to do, I hadn't eaten anything to throw up. My stomach didn't care, so it heaved anyway. _I feel horrible. _

Once I had myself under a semblance of control once more, I took in my surroundings. I was in the middle of a dimly lit cavern, and I was finally able to breathe through my nose again. _Hallelujah!_ I did a little jig in the cave before I realized that every time I bounced some of the condensed miasma fell to the ground and became fog again. I stopped dancing quickly after that.

_I wonder where the light is coming from. This really must be a short cave._ I followed the well trodden path through the cave, which looked like sandstone and limestone, until I was close enough to the other side to see sunlight streaming in. _Woo hoo, sunlight! _

I hopped over a stalagmite, ducked under a few broken stalactites, and burst into the fresh open air. I bathed in the warmth that the sun provided, soaking up the heat and light like a sponge. The miasma droplets evaporated quickly under the sunbeams, and eventually, I no longer smelled like a Rhino's behind. _I wish I could stay here and sunbath or something. _Reluctantly, I moved on.

I passed several Bokoblin corpses on my way to the Temple entrance._ Definitely Link's handiwork. _I stopped in front of Trills shop and glanced down at my empty Lantern. _I should fill up the Lantern; never know when I'll need its light again._ I walked into the fenced area and directly toward the large yellow pot filled with oil.

'Squawk' "Welcome!" 'Squawk' The bird side stepped back and forth on his branch, bowing in his bird like manner. I waved and then focused my attention on the Lantern in my hand. _How do you put oil into this thing?_ "Twist and pull!" 'Squawk ' I look back and forth between the bird and the Lantern. _Why not?_ I shrugged and twisted the top of the Lantern.

The top of the Lantern started unscrewing and before I knew it, the Lantern's top was off and the entire thing turned into a cup like object. _I see. That's an ingenious design._ I scooped oil into the fire chamber and watched it sink into the oil chamber below. Once it was full, I screwed the top back on and went to leave.

'Squawk' "Donate here!" I stopped in my tracks, just inches from the fence line. _If I don't pay that bird, he'll attack me relentlessly._ I quickly turned around and pulled out the yellow rupee I found earlier. As I left, I heard Trill hopping around. 'Squawk' "Cheapskate!" 'Squawk'

_What an ungrateful bird. Wait a minute!_ I stopped and shook my head. _I'm getting angry at a freaking bird. What's wrong with me?_

I was about to continue up the long and winding path when something flashed across my peripheral vision. _What was that?_ After scanning the terrain for a few minutes I gave up and continued on. _Must have been my imagination again.  
_

When I get to the end of the winding pathway that stretched between the rest of the forest and the large tree that housed the Temple, I came to a stop. Standing with her back to me, Jess stared up at the tall, tall tree with her hands clasped behind her back. A mildly strong wind blew her long hair blew across her back. Her gown rolled gently in the wind like the ocean. I quickly stopped breathing when she turned around to face me. But it wasn't because I was going head over heels again. _Her eyes have changed... they're... different, but familliar some how._

"Hello again, so called Oracle." That's when I recognized the look. _The look in her eyes, the presence in the air, it all resembles her, that witch._ "I believe you already know my name, so let's cut to the chase, hm?" I closed my eyes and suddenly felt my insides freeze up and shatter. _Heh… it seems that I liked her. So then why does it feel like my heart is ripping itself a new one?_

"My master ordered me here to destroy the one known as the Chosen Hero. Not knowing where the Hero went, I followed you because I knew you would lead me straight to him. You as well, are my enemy-"

"We don't have to be." That seemed to trip her up. Her eyes widened in surprised. "We could… I don't know… be friends?" The girl's eye brows furrowed and her features reflected her anger. She held her fist out at me and waved it about.

"I could never be _friends_ with my master's enemy!" Her voice echoed into the forest for several seconds until it died down. The way she sneered the word 'friends' made my insides choke themselves even tighter than before. _What's wrong with me, it's not like I even knew her in the first place. _

"That's… too bad." I slowly unwrapped the Ball and Vine and started swinging it in circles above my head. "I want you to know that I don't want to fight you." _Though I'm not sure why. _"But I will if I have to. Link must drive back the darkness that has covered the land and I won't allow that witch to get in the way."

"Then it is good that I have encountered you here. It makes my job easier if I take you out now. Then there won't be anything in the way of destroying the Chosen Hero." Jess leaped back a foot and took a defensive stance. "Come Oracle, let us decide which of us is the stronger willed?" With that, Jess leaped at me, her gown and hair flying wildly, her fist cocked back to strike like an enraged tiger.

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So, what did you think? I think I need to learn how to cliffy better. This one seemed kind of dull. Eh, either way, this chapter is done! 


	5. Shion

"I do not own The Legend of Zelda!" – I.K.A. Valian

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"Speech"

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

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My breathing increased along side my heart rate. My pupils dilated and started to move quicker, seeing more of my surroundings and the pitfalls that lay about. My body went into fight mode as my mind threw any possibility of flight out the window. Regardless of which option was chosen, massive amounts of adrenalin were suddenly pumped into my blood, which coated muscles, organs, and other bodily parts with the stimulating substance. 

Unfortunately, all of that was pointless as Jess' fist connected with my head and sent my flying into the air. Surprisingly, I went straight up into the air and would have landed in the same spot I as standing in had Jess not leaped into the air and kicked me with enough force to send me into and through the bark covered wall of the massive tree temple. _I don't think I'm going to last very long at this rate. _

I barely had enough time to shake the red out of my vision before Jess appeared crouching on all fours in the hole my body had created. _She_ _looks like my cat back home when he's about to pounce on his prey_. I fought the sudden exhaustion brought on by an overdose of adrenaline and tried to get up, but I was too slow.

Jess leaped into the air, crying out like the crazed jungle cat she had become. Her hands resembled a cat's paw with its claws extended and her eyes were ablaze with fierce determination to kill. Then, for some inexplicable reason, I automatically reacted.

Already being on my back, I miraculously found the energy to roll to the side and then without looking back, or in my case down, I kicked with all the strength I had. Both of my feet connected with the side of Jess' head. The force was enough to send her sprawling onto the ground several feet away. Of course, like the cat she some how had become, she landed on all fours.

"Ha!" I shouted in triumph. _Finally got a hit in._

Shaking, I got to my feet, my eyes never leaving Jess. She was moving around groggily, but was more or less working her way toward standing up. _I guess I hit her harder than I thought I did. _While she was working on standing up, I looked around the room. It was about two heads higher than my own, and about as wide in diameter as a pickup truck is long. _This room is definitely not part of the temple I played in the game. What else am I going to find that wasn't in the game? _

"I underestimated you, Oracle." Jess stood now, wiping blood away from her nose with the back of her hand. Her hair splayed all around her, giving her an all around wild look. _Wow… she's beautiful even when she's pissed off and bleeding. _I shook my head fiercely. _I got to keep my focus if I want to even attempt to fight her. I've already had my ass handed to me once now. _"I assure you that will not happen again," she continued. "Now, it's time for you to die."

"And we were having so much fun too." Again, Jess was caught off guard by my comment and stopped in her tracks. _Whoa… did I just flirt with the girl who's trying to kill me? What is wrong with me?_ After a few seconds, Jess shook her head and scowled at me, and then growled at me. _What is she, really? Is she some kind of human cat hybrid? _

Jess leaped at me again, though something didn't seem the same as before. _Is she getting slower?_ I jumped to the side and let her fist fly past my head into the bark of the tree. Not being the best balance wise, I tripped over my own feet and again found myself on the ground. I looked back and watched Jess pull her fist out of the crumbling dark brown bark. _That's two holes she put in this tree._

Jess looked down at me, still scowling, and started slowly walking forward, stalking me like a cat would stalk its prey. I started scooting backwards until I bumped into the back wall, which was made of moss covered stone. A sadistic and triumphant grin spread across Jess' face. I looked into her eyes and saw the intent to kill, the exhilaration of the hunt, and the excruciating pain of immense sorrow. _Wait… why is she sad? Could it have been something the witch did to her? Eh, I'm about to be gutted, might as well ask as my last request._

"I'm curious…" Jess licked her lips and continued to stare at me with those hungry eyes, which made my voice waver even more. "Why are you trying to hide your pain?" Jess stopped cold in her tracks. Her foot, in the middle of stepping forward, froze in mid air. Her eyes exchanged the wild look of an animal for the wounded, fearful, lost, and broken look of a death-camp inmate.

_Oh crap, I hurt her feelings! _Again my insides wrenched at seeing this girl tortured so. _What is wrong with me? I'm not normally this sappy. Why am I feeling for sorry for her now after she was kicking the crap out of me? _

"I… I…" Jess started backing up, her eyes darting back and forth. "I've got to leave." Jess pulled something out of her pocket and threw it at the ground. The small object exploded in a flash of light. When the light faded, Jess was gone. _I can't believe it! After all of that, she runs away. _Part of me was sad that she was gone, while the rest was just exhausted from the fight.

I let out a long sigh and, along with all the muscles in my arms, legs, and back, I suddenly became very tired. _Man, I didn't know getting it handed to ya was this tiring. I think I'll just close my eyes for a sec._ I was slowly drifting off when I heard a small jingling. _Why! Why can't I get any rest around here? I've been awake and going since I got here!_

Irritated, I opened my eyes and the immediately closed them again. "Whaa!" _Ahh, I'm blind! Blind! _

"Hehe." _That sounded like someone very tiny laughing at me. _"This one's funny!" _It's definitely someone with a small voice… kinda reminds me of Navi… Oh no, not annoying fairies! Please! There weren't any fairies in the game. Please, please, please, no annoying fairies! _

When I opened my eyes again, I wasn't blinded, but I was treated to the sight of four fairies, two blue, one red, and one green, floating in front of me. I blinked a few times, rubbed the fading fatigue out of my eyes, and looked again upon the four fairies.

"Hello!" said one of the blue fairies in its high pitched voice. "Who are you?"

"I'm…" I was stuck. _What does one say to fairies? And why are they even here? This whole experience is nothing like I thought it would be._ "My name is Valian. If you don't mind me asking… Who are you?"

"Well we do mind you asking," replied the red fairy in a huff. "You and your friend just came out of nowhere and destroyed our home." The red fairy floated up to my face and slapped my nose. It felt like someone sticking it with a needle.

"Yeah," a green fairy exclaimed. "Why did you do this? It isn't like we've done anything to you." The green fairy turned to its fellow companions. "I think we should make him pay for the damages he caused."

"I agree." The red fairy bobbed up and down several times. "He should be punished for everything he's done." Then the last fairy, the second blue one that hadn't spoken, floated up to my face and hovered there. _I think it would be a good idea to at least apologize for the damage. Besides, it isn't as if I did this. All I did was unwillingly play the part of the punching bag. _

"Look… um… fairies."

"That's Fey to you, human!" shouted the red one.

"Yeah, look, I'm sorry about your home. I didn't know you lived here. And I really wasn't the-"

"It doesn't matter if you're sorry," the green one squeaked. "You destroyed it and you'll pay for it!" _This isn't going well._ Suddenly, the blue fairy that was floating in front of my face decided that my head would make a good seat. _What the- _

"Hey, Shion, what the hell do you think you're doing?" The red fairy shrieked. _Took the words right out of my mouth._ The other fairies all floated closer to the fairy sitting comfortably on top of my head.

"He feels like a nice person." Shion stretched out on my hair. "I trust him." The other fairies were aghast. After several minutes of listening to their bickering and going cross eyed from trying to watch them, the other fairies flew off, leaving me alone with Shion on top of my head. _Is… is that fairy sleeping on me? I don't think that's such a good idea. I mean he could fall off. Either way, I've got to get into that Forest Temple and find Link. I wonder though… did the other fairies abandon this guy? Or… is this fairy a girl? _

I stood up, feeling for the first time the pain from the fight. _I'm gonna feel that in the morning. _I ambled over to the hole I entered from and looked down. _That's got to be at least twenty feet straight down, not including the sheer drop on either side of the path. _I glanced behind me and then back down the side of the tree.

"You'll probably hurt yourself if you do it." _That's exactly what I was thinking… wait, who asked him. _Shion had rolled over on my head and somehow made a blanket out of my hair. _What the heck is that fairy doing? _

"Uh… don't you have someplace to be, like, I dunno, dancing with other fairies or something?" Shion snorted and rolled over again, still some how buried in my hair.

"Yeah, dancing, that'd be the day."

"Well then tell me why you're still on the top of my head? You've got to have something better to do than lounging on my head."

"Correction: "sleeping." I am sleeping on your head. And no, I don't have anything better to do. So if you don't mind, I'll just stay up here for right now." I felt small hands tugging on individual hairs and it sent shivers down my spine.

"Well, for your information, I do mind. So why don't you just go off to where ever it is you came from."

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'? I don't recall asking you to tag along with me."

"Doesn't matter. I'm coming anyway. Get over it. Goodnight." And after that the fairy fell quiet. I couldn't get him to say or do anything else except pull harder in my hair. _I give up, if he wants to come along, then that's skin off his back. I still don't like that drop though. And it is getting darker. _

I started searching my body, but I came up empty handed. _What th- Where's my Lantern? _Then I spotted it on the ground below, right next to the Ball and Vine. _Great, now I'm stuck in a tree, it's getting darker, and my Lantern's down there. Why can't anything go right? _

I looked back down and sighed. "I can't stay up here. My only option is down." Swallowing loudly, I made the sign of the cross quickly before I grabbed onto the side of the tree and tentatively put a foot out and against the wall below. I did the same for the second foot. Then events played out in the same disastrous order they had all day, I slipped and fell. _Oh crap! _

I slid against the side of the tree for several seconds before I bounced off into open air. I landed heavily on both feet. _Stupid! Stupid! Roll when falling from heights! Idiot! _It was only after my knees had taken the brunt of the force that I rolled over to the side. _Oh! My knees! Ow, ow, ow, ow!_ I gently massaged my knees.

After the burning sensation under my kneecaps had lessened enough for me to stand and limp around, I retrieved my Lantern and the Ball and Vine. With myself now equipped, I limped into the Forest Temple. The first room wasn't wide as much as it was long. At the end opposite of the entrance were two torches next to a wooden door with a red Deku symbol carved into it. There were several totem poles and plenty of Deku Baba's. Other than that, the only other thing of notice was the collapsed wooden stairs in front of the door.

As I walked toward the collapsed stairs, I glanced around, trying to see everything I could. _This place gives me the creeps. It's old and smells like mothballs. And…_ I reached the ivy growing up the remains of the stairs and grabbed onto it. _…it's too… quiet._ Then I froze, pins and needles doing the electric slide on my spine. _ Something is crawling on my hand. _I focused my eyes on my hand and felt another wave of pins and needles pass through my body.

Crawling about on my hand was on of the most massive spiders I've ever seen. Its hairy legs moved about, dragging its bulbous body and its many eyes with it. _Oh God, no, I can't be that unlucky._ I stood as still as a post. A cold sweat broke out across my body.

The spider crawled around on the back of my head for minutes on end which felt more like hours on end. Finally, the beast crawled off of my hand. _Thank you God, thank you!_ I pulled my hand back faster than I thought possible. Once I was sure in my relative safety, I unfurled the Ball and Vine and knocked the spiders, because there was more than one on the wall of vines, off the wall. Once all of them were on the ground, scurrying about in their panic to find someplace safe, I screamed and started stomping on them. _Die! Die! Die!_ Once all the bugs were nothing more than puddles of goo, _I feel… much better_, I again grabbed onto the vines. This time, I checked to make sure there were no more bugs.

After heaving myself up and onto the wooden platform above, I turned and looked back to the entrance. A sudden mixture of apprehension and excitement consumed me. "There's no going back now." _Not that I'd want to. _I moved up to the round wooden door and looked it over. _How do I open this again?_ I heaved on one side of the door and then the other, but nothing happened.

"It's no use." Shion sat up on my head, stretched, and yawned loudly. "You woke me up with all your screaming." _No one asked you to sleep on my head. _Shion started walking around on my head, his feet tickling my scalp until my body involuntarily shivered. _What's with this fairy? _

"Hey, why did you want to come with me any way?" Shion jumped off of my head and floated into the air. He hovered down until he was in front of my face. "I would also like to clarify if you are a boy or girl."

"I came with you because I chose to, and it's none of your business if I'm a boy or girl."

"Do all fairies up and leave their homes like you did normally?" Shion didn't respond immediately. He floated away from me and toward the door.

"Not all the time, no. Fey only leave when they feel a connection to the one they're leaving with. Sometimes it is another tree we leave for, or we follow around an animal, or a skull kid. It doesn't really matter who we follow, as long as we are comfortable with the one we leave with. As long as we feel a connection." Shion turned around and floated to my shoulder, where upon he sat down. "I feel a connection with you. A strong one. And for some reason, it isn't like anything I've ever felt in my life, and I've been around the neighborhood a few times, if you know what I mean." I nodded. _So this fairy is following me because he feels connected to me. What in the name of all that is good would connect me to a fairy? Eh… I guess it's better than traveling alone all the time. I wonder… how will this affect this adventure I've been thrust into?_

"All right then, introductions aside, let's get into the Temple and find that Chosen Hero." Shion took off from my shoulder and I went up to the round door once more. _Ok, Link always pushed up and the door just opened, so maybe if I push up as well, it will open for me._ I went to the left side of the door and pushed up as hard as I could. Dust and other grim showered down from the round door frame, but the door didn't open. _Okay… maybe I'm not strong enough._ I was about to kick the door when Shion started yelling.

"Hey! Try using this." He hovered above a metal pipe of sorts, which might have been part of a drainage system before the rest of it rusted away and deteriorated. _I might be able to pry the door open with that._ I picked up the moderately thin bar and shoved it into the intersection of door and frame. Splinters cracked and crumpled around the metal intruder. "Here goes nothing." I heaved on the bar and with a cracking groan, the door rolled away, revealing another room, far larger than the first.

"Good job." Shion floated ahead of me into the next room. _I guess having him along won't be so bad._ I didn't get far into the next room before I stopped cold in my tracks. _I'm sensing that Witch again._ Like a cloud of cold air in warm humid room, the presence hung in the air forebodingly._ But… it's different in a way. Jess might have come back to finish what she started._ I glanced nervously around the room, wary of a surprise attack.

That's when I was attacked… sort of. Small black squares started gathering directly above me and I didn't realize what was happening until a body fell on top of me. _Ow. _Then I realized who was lying on top of me. _Hey, I found Link. That was easy._

"Oh my, that looks painful, do you need help?" I stared wryly at the sarcastic fairy floating above my head. Shion slowly moved to hover over Link. "Who's this guy?"

"Actually, I _enjoy_ having bodies dumped on top of me. And that just happens to be the guy I was looking for. His name is Link." I wiggled myself out from under Link and rolled him onto his back. I leaned over him and put my ear next to his face. _I hope he isn't de- _

"Is he dead?" I scowled. _That fairy is getting annoying again. _

"No. He isn't dead." I looked down at the rest of him. His new outfit was torn in several places and there were burn marks in others. "But knowing him, he probably should be."

"And he would have been if I didn't warp his ass out of there." I looked up and came face to face with Midna. She was lounging in the air as if nothing were wrong with the world. Even though she wasn't solid and she had her eyes closed, I could clearly make out the shadow's annoyed expression.

"Who are you?" Shion floated closer to Midna. Midna opened her red eye and stared at the fairy.

"Unless you know something that would be useful, then I have no need of you." After that Midna floated next to me. Shion was muttering something like 'stuck up Fey princess' but I didn't catch it all. _Hehe… they're a perfect match. _"I'm going to assume that you know what happened. Link will wake up soon, and when he does, you will tell us how to defeat him." _I have no clue what she's talking about. _Midna didn't wait for a response, she just dove directly back into Link's shadow. And shortly after that, Link began to stir and wake. _Oh great. If they couldn't defeat this enemy on their own, then that means it isn't the enemy from the game, which means that the Witch probably has had something to do with it. This just isn't my day._

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And there you have it. Another great chapter completed. I would like to thank DarkDragon for reviewing. I would have responded to your review, but it was annonymous, so this is the best I can do. I really appreciated it. Same goes for Rose Witch. I hope you enjoyed this installment. Please review, thanks for reading. 


	6. Forest Temple

"I do not own The Legend of Zelda!" – I.K.A. Valian

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I'm going to be doing this chapter different than others. I might possibly keep this new format, though it depends on how I feel about the outcome. I will continue to go forward from my point of view, but at times, I will leave my point of view to follow others around in third person. I will make these transitions as smooth and easily recognizable as possible. That's all.

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"Speech" 

_Thoughts_

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"So, where are we going?" Link turned and gave me a strange look before he turned around and kept moving. _O…kay. If I'm not going to get an answer, I just won't ask anymore. _I turned my head slowly, taking in the dark, damp, and mossy tunnel we were making our way through. _If memory serves, we're about to enter that room with the wooden bridge and the Big Key._

And just like that, the tunnel opened up into the room filled with water. A rickety, old, and most definitely rotten bridge swayed back and forth on its support beams. I came to a stop just in front of the first portion of the bridge and tentatively put my foot onto it. The wood gave a loud creak but it didn't break.

_That definitely isn't going to last for much longer. And I'm not going to even try to walk on it either. _I turned around and Link stared at me impatiently with his arms crossed. Shion, who was by this time comfortably sleeping again on my head, made a rather loud squeak. _I think he just sneezed. And judging from the looks that Link is giving me, I have to cross this bridge._ Swallowing loudly, I again tentatively put my foot out onto the rotten bridge, receiving another groan for my effort.

The image of Valian and Link crossing the shoddy bridge, projected with a soft hum against a curtain of rising white fog, pulled back to reveal the entire room. Surprisingly clear, the image also highlighted several floating and swimming creatures in the water. As Valian hopped across the first gap in the bridge, landing safely on the second piece of the bridge, the Twilight Witch shifted her weight and coughed into her hand.

"As you can see, I've got everything under control, Lord Twilight." The witch turned to the tall robed man standing next to her. Her normally deceitful and belittling purple eyes now fearfully studied the battle helmet the King of Twilight wore. For moments on end, nothing happened except for the fluttering of their intricately designed black robes in the dry wind making its way through the Palace of Twilight.

Finally, with some amount of screeching that the King considered joyous laughter, the King turned and slowly walked away. He stopped just as he reached the threshold of the magically glowing holding cell containing the witch. Turning his head slightly, he rasped, "You have proven yourself, Azela." Then the King continued on his way.

Azela slowly rose from her bow, a malicious smile creeping slowly onto her face. "I have indeed." Azela whirled to face the projection of Link and Valian. They had just made it to the other side and were soaking wet. A few of the monsters that were swimming in the water below were now gone. "It's time to die, little boy."

Azela brought a single finger to her chin in a whimsical look of considering another avenue of action. "But I'm starved for something more than food right now. I think I'll enjoy myself with you first. Mother always told me to play with my food. Hahaha." Azela's shrill laughter bounced off of the stone walls of the Palace for several seconds. Still smiling, she stretched her hand out toward the projected image and closed her eyes. The image shimmered and a yellow haze enveloped the fog. The witches smile broke to reveal the wicked grin beneath.

_I can't believe that I fell into the stupid water. _I glanced at Link and saw that he was still not pleased. _Well… at least he has a sword to kill those fish creatures with. I have a sinking feeling that the monsters weren't the only thing that the Witch changed._ I moved forward and then stopped. _Now where do we go?_

"I can't believe you were stupid enough to fall into the water." I rolled my eyes as the dripping blue fairy flew up in front of my face just to shake the water off.

"Gee," I said, wiping my face, "thanks for the support."

Shion snorted, said, "No problem," and flew higher. _Fairies are really, really annoying. The more I'm around this one, the more I'm reminded of my cat back home. Fairies and cats act very similar now that I think about it._

I looked at Link, and as I did so I felt my ears pop as the air pressure suddenly shot up. _Ouch. What's going on now?_ Then the air temperature dropped. _Oh shit. I remember this from the village._

I spun around, searching every corner of the room for the specter of that evil woman. _Where is she? _My search stopped when I laid my eyes upon Link once more. His sword in hand, he looked about ready to pounce. Unfortunately, I was his target. _…Found her._

"Link, you have to fight her." My eyes widened in surprise as Link leaped at me with a feral cry, swinging his sword down from over head, in an attempt to cleave me in half. Luckily for me, I saw it coming, so I leaped to the side only to land badly on my side. "Link, stop! Fight her influence!"

"We aren't under anyone's influence." As I stood up, clutching my side in pain, I noticed Midna had taken form next to Link. He was just sheathing his sword when she spoke again. "You are the one under the influence." That caught me off guard. _I don't feel like I'm being controlled. _I coughed into my hand. _And I don't smell any alcohol._ My coughing got me strange looks from Midna and Link.

"Regardless, we won't be traveling with you anymore. Since anything you do or say would, in all likely hood, lead us straight into the clutches of the enemy." _I can't believe this. _Midna floated back across the bridge. Link glared at me for several seconds before he turned and followed. _I can't believe that they don't trust me. _I felt my insides drop to a new low. _Wow, I didn't know being betrayed was this horrible. Or maybe they're right. Maybe I am being controlled._ I looked around the empty room again, but I couldn't find anything. The desperate cruelty of the situation closed in around me like a noose being tightened around my neck. _It almost feels like I can't breathe._

"I'm leaving too." _What, not you too Shion._ Shion bobbed down in front of my face. "You don't feel the same anymore. Bye." And the fairy took off.

"Wait, don't go Shion!" _I'd take annoying fairies over being alone any day._ Shion didn't even slow down, he just kept going in the same direction as Link. _Man, this is pathetic._ I sat down heavily on the dirty ground, wincing from my side injury as I did so. The noose around my neck was now so tight I was choking, drowning in my emotions. _I'm pathetic._ As the turmoil within slowly simmered, I again felt the witches presence in the air like a fog or some other body of air that rolled through the entire room.

As her essence rolled over me the pressure on my skull let up, leaving me with a dizzy buzz feeling. I watched the world around me start to fade as I felt myself slump to the side. I felt like I was going to keep falling though the darkness that enshrouded me.

The image of Valian falling over brought a bark of laughter from Azela. Though she still had her eyes closed, she could clearly 'see' everything that she was doing. Her casual smirk and her excited demeanor conveyed her enjoyment of the activity.

"My, my. Poor baby. Losing all trust in others is a hard thing to live with. I think I might help you end the pain. Yes, I think I will." Azela stretched her other hand out toward the projected image in front of her. The yellow haze covering the image shivered under the invisible touch of the witch.

From the point where Valian lay unconscious on the ground, a red haze started to leak into the image. It burst forth from that one point like blood from an angry flesh wound until the entire image was covered with the red haze. The witch giggled.

Link slowly made his way back to the main chamber of the temple. Once he stood on top of the wooden platform in the center of the room, he pulled out his map and looked at it. Marked off were all the rooms except the one cross the chasm from the main room and the boss room. He'd already gone into the chamber across the chasm and had nearly died at the hands of the most unnatural monster within.

"Link, perhaps we should attempt to fight that creature again." Link turned to Midna who floated over his shoulder. "It certainly looks like we won't be able to enter the main boss' chamber until this creature is defeated. Perhaps he holds the big key needed to open the lock place on the door by the Light Spirits."

With grim resoluteness, Link rolled the map back up and headed for the door to the dread creatures lair. With the monkeys' aid, Link swung across the chasm and for the second time ran up to the door that led to the lair. As Link gave the heave to open the door, a whisper of an ill wind crossed his senses and made him whirl around, sword and shield already in hand. His eyes darted back and forth as he backed into the room behind him.

Link continued on into the lair of the beast. He fumbled in the pitch darkness for several seconds before he finally managed to light his lantern. That done, he moved forward cautiously, nervously glancing back and forth while keeping his sword and shield in the optimum position to defend himself.

"Yes, that's right my precious. Stroll into the darkness, let it swallow you up." Azela's grin disappeared and her hands clawed and contorted until they resembled a thorn bush rather than human hands. After some moments the air around her knotted hands became so hot that the waves of heat warped the air around them. "Now, my new pet, prove yourself. And if you fail me again, no mercy will be spared in your punishment." The absolute glee in the strained witch's voice stood in stark contrast to the contortion on her face.

Link, still moving forward, gripped his sword tighter. A drop of sweat slid slowly down the side of his face. This room had not been so empty before, nor so dark. Suddenly, a beam of light appeared, initially causing Link to shield his eyes until he saw who it was. Valian kneeled in the middle of the beam of light. He stood up and opened his eyes, eyes that were dulled and dead to the world around him. Link set his jaw, gripped his sword tighter, and, after bending his knees a few times, leaped at Valian.

Valian neatly dodged the attack by stepping to the side and then proceeded to punch Link in the face. Link staggered backwards holding the spot that had been hit. When he pulled his hand back, blood coated his leather gauntlets.

Now he was angry. Link looked back at Valian to see him standing sideways holding his hand out and making a single gesture, 'come'. Gritting his teeth, Link leaped again. Instead of putting all of his strength into the strike, this time when Valian dodged the attack by stepping to the side, Link dropped to the ground and used his arms to swing his entire lower body around and knocked Valian off of his feet.

However before Link could stand back up, Valian flipped back up into a crouching position, from which he leaped high into the air above Link. Link barely rolled out of the way when Valian's foot came down where his head used to be, creating a small crater.

Link scrambled to his feet and put his shield up in front of him just in time to stop Valian's punch. Link's arm shook fiercely under the stress and the wooden shield started to crack under the maintained pressure.

Thinking quickly, Link kicked out with his feet and then did a quick spin attack with is sword. Valian jumped back out of range before the sword even started spinning.

Link was breathing heavily while Valian stood still as stone, neither winded or even showing fatigue. Link frowned for a second before he charged forward again, swinging his sword horizontally at Valian.

Valian waited till a split second before the sword would hit him before he ducked underneath the blade. In what seemed like slow motion, Valian stood up, throwing Link for a loop with a vicious uppercut to the chin. Link's sword and shield flew from his hands as he literally spun head over feet and landed heavily on his back.

He groaned and tried to sit up when he felt the cold kiss of steel held against his throat. Link defiantly looked up into the clouded eyes of Valian.

Valian planted his foot heavily on Link's chest, causing the warrior to groan in pain, and raised the Ordonian sword above his head. With a piercing cry, Valian swung the sword.

"Why are you so difficult to control you troublesome little boy." The witch's arms, though even more grotesquely manipulated than before, now trembled under the stress of conducting so much concentrated energy. Her legs were buckling and her knees were knocking with the accuracy of a Swiss clock. Sweat drenched Azela's black robe and hair, her face shone with excess perspiration, and she now had her eyes open and her teeth clenched. Blood vessels on her neck and all across her skull were protruding from her skin and pulsing in time with her vile heart. "How are you able to resist me? I do not understand this at all. Little boy, I will not lose to you!" The witch's arms started to shake harder and her legs finally gave out from underneath Azela as she put all she could into her magicks.

_I… Can't… Let… Link die!_ I felt my arms trembling as I kept the immense force pushing my arms to kill the Chosen Hero from doing so. I had been pushed and pushed by this force, pushed to do things I _know_ that I had no aptitude for. But this was the last straw. I wasn't about to let that vile Witch make me do something as horrid as this. _Even if he doesn't trust me, it doesn't matter. He is the one who's going to kill Ganondorf. He must survive this journey!_

I forced my body to take several steps backwards. _I can't hold the Witch off for much longer. I… I have to die. I'd rather die than let __**her**__ control me!_

"L-Link!" He was just as surprised to hear me speaking as I was. Though my lips trembled from the effort, I continued to speak past the death grip the Witch had on me. "Link. You have to kill me. The Witch. She's controlling my body. You… have to kill me before… I lose my grip on my body." Link's eyes hardened with understanding. Groaning with effort, he pushed himself up and limped toward me. "Hurry… Link. I can't hold her back… much longer."

Link took the sword from my spasming hand and raised it to my shoulder. He raised it high above his head and paused. I watched him take a deep breath and close his eyes. His weariness seemed to melt away so that when he opened his eyes again, all traces of his earlier emotions were gone, replaced with the will to kill instead of being killed. The law of nature.

"Ahhhh!" I felt my grip slipping. "Hurry! Do it now!" Link's sword came down. Suddenly a ball of light shot in front of me and intercepted the blade with a fierce explosion of sparks. _Shion! No! I have to die to stop… the… what the heck? _Shion's light soothed my aching body and drove a diamond tipped spike into the Witch's very presence, causing it to shrivel and retreat. _How?_

"Sorry about that." Shion flew toward my face and hovered in front of it. "I didn't realize that the true you was being blocked by someone else's you." _Yeah, like that makes… any sense. Man now I'm really tired. All that work fending off the Witch._

Link seemed on guard still, as if he didn't know what to believe, his eyes or his senses. His senses said that the evil presence previously radiating from Valian was now gone. On the other hand, his eyes told him that nothing about him had changed and therefore, it could be a trap.

"Uh… Link I don't suppose I could convince you not to kill me now, could I?" With his sword still pointed at, in all likely hood, one of my vital points, Link managed to give me an odd look. _I can't tell if he's just confused or extremely pissed off. Maybe… both._

"I see that my master failed to tame you, stupid Oracle." _I know that voice._ I spun around to see Jess standing in the single beam of light. _I knew she'd be back. Oh this is great! Wait! No it isn't!_ "No matter, that is why I'm here. To make sure her wishes are carried out." Jess raised her hand and pointed at Link. Her eyes shone with the feral delight of the hunt. And if one were to look, Link's eyes were very similar. "Chosen Hero, be a good boy and die."

"Sorry, but uh, he needs to save the world from Gannon, so that won't be happening." Jess laughed in the most terrible and horrid way. It sent shivers down my spine. _She's really creeping me out with that laugh. I don't want to fight her again. I don't want to hurt her. … What is wrong with me! I'm feeling sorry for her again? I really need a slap in the-_

_**SLAP**_

"Ouch!" _What the hell- Link just backhanded me. _I rubbed my now red cheek and glared at Link. "What'd you do that for?" He shrugged and faced Jess who was still standing in the middle of the light.

"Stupid boy, I will kill you for my Master. And then I will kill the Chosen Hero." Jess crossed her arms, a smug grin on her face as she stared us down. I felt Link shift his stance as he prepared to attack. _Apparently he's decided that I'm less of a threat than I was before._ _Took long enough._

"Are you sure we have to fight? I really don't want to fight you." _Perhaps if she says ok, she can be convinced to come to the good side. Then maybe… Agh, what is wrong with me! Why can't I think clearly around this girl?_ Link gave me a troubled side long glance to which I responded with a hopeful shrug.

"Don't fret stupid Oracle. I'm not the only one you'll be fighting." I suddenly became aware of movement all around me. That's when the entire chamber lit up with an ethereal orange glow. In cages all around us were the monkeys and standing on a pillar in the back of the room was that baboon leader of them all.

_That monkey doesn't look the same as the one in the game. What did the witch do to him?_ The baboon leaped into the air, screeching its primal rage in an explosion of sound that seemed to penetrate our very souls. All the monkeys around us, previously screeching and jumping up and down madly, now cowered in fear as far away from the baboon leader as possible.

"Allow me to introduce you to Vampire Ook." I looked fearfully upon the now vampiric baboon standing at a full height of four feet next to Jess. _Vampire baboon? Crap, this can't be good. _"My master made this pathetic creature her servant, turning him into a superior specimen of his species."

I glanced at Link and noticed a horrified, grim expression play across his face before he locked it all behind the steel door that was his will. _I wonder if he even knows what a vampire is…_

"Enough of this, let's fight." I faced turned my attention back to Jess and V-Ook. I felt my body once again get ready to fight. Then we waited for the other side to make the first move. I always felt it was better to let the opponent make the first move. "While I hold you two off, Ook here will suck the life from each and every one of the monkeys in this room, turning them into his loyal vampire servants. In that way, an army will be founded in this forest. An undead army that will control this forest in the name of my master, the Great and Terrible Azela."

… _What? Vampire army? Great and Terrible Azela? Is that the witch's name? Whatever is going on, I'm pretty sure that it isn't good._ Link didn't wait for V-Ook to get a chance to get off the ground. He leaped at the vampire baboon, sword raised above his head, and crying out his battle cry. He would have cleaved the monkey in two if Jess hadn't kicked him away.

Link rolled to a stop and then sprang back up, leaping at Jess this time. _ There is no way I'd be able to take on Jess or Mr. Monkey. But if the Monkey is going to be concentrating on those other monkeys then I think I'd be safer trying to stop it than trying to fight Jess._ I glanced at Link and Jess fighting one more time before I scanned the room for the evil monkey. _I guess there isn't any need to notify Link that she's his fight. _I shook my head. _I need to realize these kinds of things faster._ _Now where is that monkey?_

"Valian, he's over here!" I spun around and looked for the source of the voice. I found Shion distracting the undead simian by flying around his head. The monkey kept swiping at the fairy in an attempt to knock him out of the air.

"Right! Keep him busy for a few more seconds will ya." I heard a 'no problem' as I rushed toward the pillar that held aloft the vampire monkey. The terrified simian held captive in the cage below him saw me running toward the base of the pillar and deiced to urge me on by hooting and hollering in her monkey fashion. The other captive monkeys caught on and joined the first monkey, filling the room with a mixture of loud, primal screams for freedom, battle cries coming from Link and Jess, and the frustrated screeches of Vampire Ook.

I slammed into the pillar, putting all of my momentum into my shoulder. The pillar shook back and forth for several seconds. At the top, Vampire Ook wobbled back and forth on the unsecured wooden cage and jumped to the next pole and cage before the first one fell with a rounding crash. The newly freed monkey bolted as fast as a living thing was capable of going._ Damn, now that's fast. Now for the next one._

In this manner, Shion and I worked together to free over half the monkeys while Link and Jess fought tooth and nail. Jess was again using that crazy jungle cat fighting style. _I swear that she really is a jungle cat in a human body._ Link on the other hand was rolling all over the place to dodge the woman's attacks. Every once in a while he got a hit in, like kicking her in the mid section, knocking her legs out from underneath her, etc. But the woman was so in touch with her fighting instincts that she turned her fall or tumble into a roll or some other movement that enabled her to instantaneously strike back. A strike which Link usually took full force.

_Link's not going to last much longer at this rate. If only I had some way of doing the same thing that the witch was making me do without succumbing to her. _Pushing my thoughts to the side, I slammed into the final pole and sent the last monkey free. Vampire Ook, didn't take to this kindly and after howling his frustrated rage at the retreating form of the final terrified monkey, he turned to look at me. _He is definitely pissed off._

Before I could blink I was rolling to a stop in a heap with Jess on top of me. A long red line had appeared on her arm and abdomen. _Apparently Link got in some good hits. Damn him. Wait, no that's a good thing! Ahh, stupid, stupid emotions!_

Jess stood up and pulled me with her. She had her bloodied arm around my throat, choking me, and a knife at my neck before I could blink. She leered at Link who now stood on guard, breathing heavily. _This doesn't look good. Hmm… she smells nice._ Instead of struggling to get free, I found myself leaning into her chokehold. _I think if I had to die, then I'd like to go like this…_

"Not so quick now, are you Chosen Hero." Link glared at Jess as she tightened her grip on me. _What a nice strong grip. Oh my god! What is wrong with me? Stop it! Stop thinking these thoughts! She's evil! She works for the Witch! She's got really smooth skin! Ahh!_

I felt my hand, spasming from the lack of oxygen, brush along her leg. I frowned when I felt myself grip something very familiar. _No way… it can't be…_ Suddenly Shion slammed into the side of Jess' head. The blow was enough to make the mad woman loose her grip on my neck. Then survival instincts kicked in and I threw my head back with all the force I could muster.

I fell away from Jess as she stumbled backwards. Link took this opportunity to leap into combat again and the Vampire monkey made is grand return after watching the entire scene from the top of a pole. V-Ook jumped and landed several feet away from me, glaring at me the entire time.

"What I wouldn't do for a wooden stake." I suddenly felt the object in my hand grow heavier. I looked down to see a wooden stake, all shaved and chipped into the optimum shape for killing vampires. _What the… where'd this come from? Wasn't I holding…_

I didn't get a chance to finish my though as V-Ook jumped at me. Gritting my teeth, I clenched my eyes and held the stake in front of me. A sudden heavy weight fell onto the stick and then onto me. When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring into the quickly dying eyes of Ook. When I rolled out from underneath the dead monkey, Shion flew up to me.

"What's wrong?" I wearily looked back down at the dead monkey.

"It was the look in his eyes. He looked sad and happy at the same time. It was like he was saying thank you." I wiped my face quickly to hide the few tears that had fallen.

"Well I think that if I had been turned into something like that, I'd thank you to for releasing me. Even if the only release was death." I turned to Shion who had his wings drooped and watched his color fluctuate in the deeper shades of blue.

"Thanks Shion." The fairy turned to me, the blue glow growing brighter, if not adding a shade of purple.

"What for?"

"For coming back." Shion flew over and landed on my head. Knowing that it was useless to try to look at him, since the last time that only hurt my eyes, I instead turned to face the battle between Link and Jess. As I did so, Shion snorted.

"I didn't come back for you." I frowned, a little hurt by the remark. "I came back because I wanted to. Remember, I've got a connection with you whether you like it or not."_ Oh, yeah, how could I forget?_ I smirked at the unspoken sarcasm. I felt him pulling a few of my hairs as I watched Link roll out of the way of another of Jess' pounces.

"Don't worry. If it makes you feel better, I forgive you for thinking I came back for you." _If I didn't know better, I'd say he's insulting me. Wait, I don't know better, he is insulting me!_ Both Link and Jess stopped fighting, both breathing heavily. Link leveled his sword at Jess while she only smirked and started searching her waist for something. When she couldn't find it, she looked down in surprise. _ I think she's looking for this stake._

"Looking for this, Sweet Cheeks?" Jess growled and was about to yell at me when she saw what I was holding, a Wii Remote. _I'm still not so sure where she got this from. But I'm guessing that it came from my room. Perhaps it was sucked into the vortex along with me and the witch. I wonder what else came through that portal._

Jess growled before she leaped at me, fully intending to rip my head off. _I could sure use a baseball bat._ Suddenly, before my eyes, the Wii-mote elongated until it became an aluminum baseball bat. _How in the… no time to think, gotta play ball._ I stepped to the side and brought the bat to rest behind my shoulder.

"It's the bottom of the ninth. Bases are loaded. Valian has taken the plate at the tail end of a rough game. Jess has thrown the pitch. And…" I swung the bat as hard as I could, well maybe not so hard, I didn't want to hurt her too much. The broad side of the aluminum bat slammed into Jess' head and sent her to the ground like a load of bricks. I threw my hands into the air and started shouting "SCORE!"

Link was leaning on his sword and looking at me as if I'd completely lost it. I can only assume Shion was doing the same. And that's when Midna popped out of the shadows.

She was scowling disdainfully when she said, "Took you long enough. Some hero you are, Link." He just rolled his eyes and sheathed his sword.

By the time Jess woke from her nap a few minutes later, Link had already tied her up to one of the poles. After shaking her head a few times she noticed her predicament and the people standing around her. Then she noticed Midna and started growling.

"So you're here too, eh?"

Midna wasn't fazed and smirked evilly. "I've no clue who _you_ are, and it doesn't really matter either. I will be the one asking the questions. Now, who is this master of yours?" Jess didn't answer, instead glaring into Midna's one eye.

"I think she called her the Great and Terrible Azela." Jess whipped her head to glare at me on the other side of the room. "I've just been calling her the Witch, since that's what she is. And quite insane too." Midna's eyes glowed in triumph and her grin widened.

"I see," Midna giggled in her devious fashion, "so that's who's been keeping tabs on us. I could sense someone watching us the entire time, I just didn't know if it was the Usurper Zant or not. So, your master likes to watch. Did you know, little servant, she's been watching the whole time?" Jess eyes widened, though not in surprise, but fear. She gritted her teeth and started to struggle to get free.

Midna giggled. Floated backwards a few steps and then held her hand out toward Jess. Jess closed her eyes and awaited the final blow, but it never came. A spark of black energy flew from Midna's hand to the ropes around Jess, setting her free. Completely serious now, Midna floated next to the kneeling woman.

"Go back to your master. Tell her how you failed her. Tell her how she failed." Midna smirked, but one could easily see the cruelty and vengeful desire burning in her eyes. Moving to float next to Link's shoulder, I noticed that Jess was starting to fade from existence as her body was turned into small back squares that were then sucked up into a swirling vortex of similar energy on the ceiling.

Before she had completely disappeared. Jess glared hatefully at us. "That damn ape wasn't the only creature that my master improved." Then the rest of her exploded into black squares and were pulled into the vortex, which disappeared in a puff of smoke. Jess' last words sent a shiver down my spine. _What else has that witch done to this place. What could she possibly mess up further than she already has?_ I turned to Link who was eyeing my suspiciously. _Not this again._

"Look, I seriously am me this time. I'm sorry if I don't seem to know where I'm going, but I really don't recall there being any thing like this in the Forest Temple. Whoever that Witch is, she's screwed up this place completely." I motioned toward the dead Ook. "He was supposed to live and help in the fight against the giant evil plant monster that's guarding the Fused Shadow." Midna's eye seemed to widen for a second before her impatient and bored look returned and she 'hmphed'. Diving back into Link's shadow, Midna disappeared and Link shrugged.

_I guess that means I'm on good terms with them again. That's a relief._

"You have the weirdest friends, you know that Valian." I tilted my head up before I remembered I couldn't see the fairy sitting on my head.

"Yeah, I know." Link motioned for me to hurry up, which I did. That's when it hit me. "Oh wait!" Link stopped and looked at me curiously. "I almost forgot. What happened to the Gale Boomerang?"

* * *

I know this took forever to get out, but I really wanted to get most of the Temple out of the way. I also wanted to make it longer and I wanted it to turn out as close to perfect as possible. So here we are. I hope you enjoyed it. 

Please review and thanks for reading (and waiting).

* * *

And I almost forgot, but now it is time for my new custom, Advertising other stories that I've read and like. Obviously I can't advertise stories I havn't read, so don't feel bad if your story isn't covered, it's all my fault. 

Death is a mystery to all, except for possibly Raine Sage. _**MixedBreedMaiya **_chronicles Raine's adventures in:

**_Daughter of Death._**

And because I like to self promote my stories, here's another ad.

When three children are dragged into a whirlwind of adventure, they must fight for their lives and the life of thier planet in:

**_The Symphonian Adventure_**


	7. Twilight Parasite Megalo Diababa Pt 1

"I do not own The Legend of Zelda!" – I.K.A. Valian

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"Speech" 

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

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Valian and Link looked all over the room, but found no way of escape. This fact alone brought a victorious snarl of laughter from Azela. Giddy as she was, it was impressive to see her go from excited to completely passive when the Twilight King stepped into the prison cell. He stopped next to the bowed woman and gazed at the image projected on a curtain of white fog. 

"Your intricate trap has proven itself, it seems."

The witch whimpered in satisfaction. "Thank you, my Lord," she said breathlessly. The King turned and left the prison wordlessly. Once he was gone, the Azela stood up and again found herself as giddy as a school girl. The sudden change in air pressure drew her attention to the corner of her cell where Jess appeared.

"Master, I did as you commanded." Jess kneeled and bowed her head.

"Very good my pet, very good!" Azela strode up to Jess and put two fingers under her chin. Fearing any kind of retribution for resisting, Jess slowly stood up as the witch raised her fingers until the two women were face to face, each the same height. Jess stood completely still as the witch proceeded to then plaster herself against Jess' body.

"I'm curios. What did you think of the boy?" Jess shivered as the witch caressed her body languidly. For a few moments Jess said nothing.

"I… I though him odd. Especially for one who opposes you, my master."

"Oh," the witch said, sticking her tongue and lightly drawing it up the back of Jess' neck. She shivered from the contact, but nonetheless remained still.

"Yes. He claims to be an oracle, no doubt a cover story for his knowledge of this land. Yet I can't help but sense a certain feel of truthfulness in him. He…" Jess paused as the witch stopped what she was doing and detached her self from her servant. Jess continued as the witch stopped in front of the projected image of Valian and Link. "He could see right through me and though he saw me for what I am, your servant, he was not scared. He confuses me."

"Yes, my servant, he is a troublesome one. The first one in a long time to resist me at all. I will truly relish consuming his life force. Truly, he is a rare find. Such-" The witch's mouth started watering as she licked her lips and breathed deeply. "Such a succulent morsel."

"My master." The witch turned and saw Jess kneeling again, offering her the Gale Boomerang. "I found this in the possession of the creature you reshaped. It breathes deeply of the power of the wind."

Azela picked up the boomerang carefully, critically eyeing the weapon over each of its surfaces. She licked her lips once more and smiled.

"Very good my servant." The witch held the boomerang in front of her and shut her eyes. A green aura surrounded the angled weapon and a bluish black one surrounded the witch. A miniature scream filled the air as the green aura started dissolving, being consumed by the darker one. The screams brought a satisfied grin to the witch's face. When the green aura was completely gone, she indifferently tossed the weapon to the side of the prison cell and faced the projected image once more.

"You may go, until called on once more, my pet." The witch waved over her shoulder nonchalantly.

"Yes my master." Jess stood and bowed. When she stood back up, she placed her hands together and slowly dissipated into millions of black squares that were sucked from the room through the window into a Twilight Portal.

Upon reappearing in a crumbling building within a forest, Jess noticed that under her foot was the now powerless Gale Boomerang. She picked up the weapon and moved next to the sword standing tall in the middle of the clearing. The peaceful aura emanating from the blade soothed her spirit and seemed to bring a semblance of life back to the powerless weapon in her hands. Sighing sadly, she placed the boomerang on the ground next to the sword.

* * *

I don't remember falling asleep, but I was clearly dreaming. I was walking down the road; on my way to return a book to the library. I had already walked for hours and I knew many hours of journey lay ahead. As I walked, I passed fields of golden wheat, tall stalks of corn, and rolling hills covered in a deep green grass. None of them were separated by fences, as I'd become accustom too. Rather, they were set free to grow where they may. 

I became enamored with the smell carried on the wind from across these fields of gold and green. The wind itself was steady and warm. I watched, a Mesmer spell gluing my attention to the waves rolling across the fields surrounding me.

I was struck from my reverie when a resounding peal of thunder rolled across the sky. Looking up, I saw that the once clear, sunny skies were now overcast. The wind started blowing fiercely and I had to lean forward to keep moving. Squinting through the onrushing blasts of air, I saw the outline of the library in the middle of the field. It took forever to finally arrive at the steps of the building.

Once in side, I went to return my book at the counter. Unfortunately no one was there. When I looked around the only other person I could find was Kurosaki, but he's always here. After searching some more, I ran into Kurosaki again. This time I stopped and stared at him. He didn't look happy.

"Did she take your book away again?" I asked, referring to his sister playing pranks on him. He looked up at me and shook his head.

"I don't know what happened. First I was reading the book, and the next thing I know, it's missing. That witch probably took it." I was surprised. Usually his sister was the one taking things from Kurosaki. I shrugged and walked back to the front desk.

When I got there, I noticed that the Librarian had returned to her post. I pointed at the huge F5 tornado outside and the cow waving at us as it flew by the window.

"Crazy weather we're having, eh?" The elder lady nodded and took my book from me.

"My, my, a checking in late now are we, Valian?" I looked down and nodded sadly. "Well, I'll have to eat your soul to make up for it." I quickly looked up and watched the nice old librarian peel her face off to reveal the Witch. She was grinning and licking her lips.

"No! I returned the book!"

"Silly boy! I don't care if you returned it. I just want to eat you up." I slowly backed up, watching the Witch crawl over the counter, her tongue writhing all over the place, her saliva wetting her mouth in anticipation of a fresh and tasty meal. My body involuntarily jerked when I bumped into one of the tall book shelves and shivered as the Witch closed in on me, staring at me with those hungry eyes.

"Stop!" Both me and the Witch looked to my right and spotted Kurosaki standing there with his sword out. "Give me my book back, you damn Witch." The Witch chuckled and shook her head. Kurosaki growled and repeated himself. While the Witch and Kurosaki argued, I slinked along the side of the book stand until I could run down the aisle.

When the Witch noticed me running, she shouted, "Hey, come back here," and chased after me. Kurosaki wasn't far behind.

I suddenly found myself in a large forest clearing. The trees overhead swayed gently in the wind and the grass around me reached up to my waist. I felt completely at peace until the Witch jumped from the edge of the forest and landed in front of me.

"Finally found you. Now be a good boy and give me your soul. I think you've kept me waiting long enough." I swallowed hard and started backing away as the witch approached. "Honestly, this has got to stop, do you expect me to wait forever for you to feed me your soul." I nodded innocently. "Well that just isn't going to-"

"Hey Witch! I found you!" Kurosaki suddenly jumped down from nowhere and landed in between me and the Witch. He stood up slowly and pointed his sword at the Witch. "Now give me my book back or I'll beat it out of you!"

The witch smirked at Kurosaki. "I suppose I can't make you forget with cupcakes!"

Kurosaki smirked back. "Not on Tuesdays you can't, now hand it over!"

"Which, the cupcakes or the book?"

"You know what I mean, give me my book back, or else." Kurosaki turned to me, suddenly serious, and said, "Say my name if you want my help." Screaming, the Witch leaped at me wildly only to have Kurosaki bring his balled fist up into her face, sending her flat onto the ground.

I frowned and gave Kurosaki a sideways look of confusion. "Um… okay. Kurosaki." Kurosaki shook his head in futility. The witch groaned and stood up, only to have Kurosaki do the same thing to her face as before, sending her once again to the ground.

"No, idiot, my full name." I glanced down at the loopy witch on the ground and then back up at Kurosaki and nodded.

"Oh right, umm… Kurosaki…" What was his name? It began with an 'I'. "I-… Ich-… Ichigo?"

* * *

I awoke with a scream. Not just any scream, but an attacking, full on battle cry scream. It echoed for a few seconds afterward. When I fully opened my eyes, I found myself standing in front of a gaping hole in the wall, my Wii-mote smoking in my hands. 

_What the hell just happened? One minute I'm dreaming… and the next I'm screaming in front of a hole in the wall. Where did this hole come from anyway? And what was with that dream?_

"I don't know where that came from, but good job. Now let's get out of this smelly place." I looked up at Shion as he flew on ahead through the hole in front of me. _Huh, where what came from? The hole?_

"But, I didn't…"

Link walked past me, patting me on the shoulder reassuringly as he passed. _What was that for? What in the world is going on? _I looked down at the Wii-mote in my hands, now no-longer enveloped in smoke, and then back up at the man sized hole in front of me. _Are they saying I did __**that**__? There's no way I did __**that**_

"Come on, Valian!"

"Yeah, yeah." _Freaking impatient fairy._ _I don't get it. How could I do that? And what was with that dream, about Bleach and the Witch? This experience is getting weirder and weirder by the minute._

I emerged from the tunnel in a room containing a strip of land surrounded by water. To my right, on a high ledge, was a hole in the wall. On the other side of the room, I noticed a Bombling standing tall. _Oh right! This was that one room just before the boss. If we exit through that door over there, we should be in the room where the monkeys swing us across the bottomless pit to the boss' door._ I silently dreaded the moment when I would put my life in the hands of a bunch of monkeys. Apparently, Shion wasn't going to wait for me to get my act together.

"Hey!" I winced as the fairy shouted in my ear. _Stupid fairy!_ "Come on, Link's already in the next room."

"Yeah, yeah." I stopped and looked up at the fairy. "Look, I'm not a morning person. Could you stop shouting?"

Shion sighed an indifferent 'Whatever' before landing on my head pulling on my hair in an agitated manner. _Freeloader._

"I am disappointed in you, Azela." The Twilight King stood next to a cowering witch, his right hand hovering over her trembling form. An unnatural golden aura emanated from the King's down turned palm. "I assumed that when you said everything was under control, you meant it. It appears that you were _very_ wrong. Explain." The King's tone made it clear to Azela that it was not a request, but an order.

Without looking up, the witch answered in shamed and fearful whimpers. "I… I don't know how it happened. That boy, the one with the Chosen Hero… He did it. He somehow accessed power… A power great enough to overpower my hexes and wards. The trap… it would have worked if not for that despicable little boy." The witch cowered lower and whimpered louder as she felt the golden aura glow to envelop her entire body.

"I require much of you, witch" said the King as he pulled his hand back, the three triangles on the back losing their light. The golden glow encompassing the witch slowly receded into a golden collar around her neck. Once fully formed, the new choker appeared to become part of her skin, like a tattoo. "I wish you to use your dark powers to bolster my armies of darkness and kill the Chosen Hero." The looked hatefully at the projection showing Link and Valian standing in front of the dungeon boss door and scratching their heads. "I do not care for this young brat either," the King said, motioning toward Valian, "kill him as well."

After the shock of the moment and idly fingering her new golden tattoo, Azela snapped out of her reverie and bowed low. "Yes, my King. Thank you."

"Azela…"

"Yes, Lord."

"Don't fail me again." With that the King walked out of the prison cell, after which all the bars dissipated, effectively freeing the witch. The golden energy evaporated into the air, giving off a faint ozone smell as it went.

When the bars were completely gone, the witch ran to one of the windows and stuck her head out. Below and all around the tower she was in were the dusk clouds and atmosphere of the Twilight Realm. Grinning from ear to ear, Azela rushed back into the room and stopped before the image of Link and Valian, still before the gates of the dungeon boss.

"I think it's time that you die, little boys. I'm only saddened that I won't be there to see my pet chew the skin from your dead corpses." The witch stretched out her hands toward the image and clenched them into fists.

"How are we going to get into the main boss's chamber without the Big Key?" _This is ridiculous. We're stuck her because the monkey ran off and we don't have anyway of opening this door. _Shion, who was floating next to the door, flew back and took up his usual spot on my head. _How does he keep from falling off when I move my head anyway?_

"Hey, Valian, why don't you do that one thing again?" _Why can't he talk to me face to face? Well, whatever. I have no clue what he's talking about anyway, so I'll just ignore him. _ I folded my arms and once more studied the door I'd been studying for the two hours already. Large, sturdy chains, most likely iron, were crisscrossing the door. All of them were held in place by a humongous round lock, also made of iron. _There is no way to open this door without the Big Key. And from the looks of it, the Big Key is as big as my arm. And if it is made of iron like the rest of these chains are, I don't think we'd even be able to lift it to unlock the door. There is no way into this chamber then._

A sudden thumping drew my attention to Link, who now lay dazed on the ground behind me. I moved to Link's side to help him back up and that was when I noticed the bump. _Yikes… that has to hurt._

When I had Link sitting up, I had to keep holding him there because any time I attempted to let him sit on his own, he slowly started falling over. It took him a full three an a half minutes to pull his senses back from where ever they went to, shaking his head furiously as he did so.

"You gonna be okay?" He nodded and then immediately grabbed his head in pain and he would have nearly fallen over again if I didn't grab hold of him. I gave his bump another once over and winced. _That thing is definitely gonna leave a mark. Don't they have some kind of healing potion or something around here?_ Then it hit me. _Oh yeah! There's a healing fairy around here somewhere._

"Hey Link, can I borrow a bottle? I have an idea."

Link, keeping one hand on his head, reached into his tunic with the other hand and pulled out a bottle half full of some kind of red goo. As he handed it to me he gave me a look that said, 'if I don't get this back in one piece, you're buying me another one."

I uncorked the top of the bottle and immediately started comparing the stuff in the bottle to the poison swamp just a few feet away. _This stuff smells just as bad as that poison. How can he drink this stuff?_ I shrugged and turned the bottle upside down, dumping its contents onto the ground. Link was horrified. _I don't think he thought I was going to do that. Eh, he'll feel better afterwards, I hope._

I walked around the entrance, kicking each of the clay jars that lay about into the wall. Several rupees appeared, which I confiscated quickly enough, and in the last jar to explode against the wall, a fairy fell out. _Aha found you._ The fairy was spinning around in the air aimlessly. _Oops… looks like I knocked it senseless. What's with everything going senseless?_

"That's what you were looking for?" I nodded as I pounced on the pink fairy with the bottle. "If I'd known you were looking for a sissy Fey, I could have easily scared it into doing what you wanted." I looked up at Shion incredulously. _Now he tells me. Wait… sissy fairy?_

"What do you mean by 'sissy Fey'?" I kneeled next to Link, who was now out cold on the ground, and uncorked the bottle. The pink fairy flew out and immediately started spreading its magic all over Link's body. His head wound quickly disappeared and all signs of stress disappeared.

"What I mean is that only sissies ever become healers. They're too weak to do anything else."

I snorted as Link sat up and scratched his head in confusion. I handed Link his bottle back, after which he remembered what happened and gave me a dark look. "You're welcome," I said. I swore I heard him grumbling as he put the bottle back in his tunic. I turned to Shion again and asked, "I suppose you're not a sissy fairy then?" Shion flew so close to my face that I had to squint to keep his bright light from blinding me.

"Of course not! I'm Second Class Spec Ops." _Fairies have a military?_ "I'm a hundred times the Fey that sissy'll ever be."

"Err… right. But do you have to say all of this in my face." Shion 'hmphed' and landed on top of my head again. I noticed Link walking toward the chained door. _Has he figured out a way in? And what hit him on the head?_ "Link!" He stopped and looked at me over his shoulder. "You have a way in?" He nodded and held the Big Key above his head. "But how-" Link patted the top of his head and then moved up next to the door. _Oh, so the Big Key was what landed on his head. I guess it really was heavy. _I stopped and thought for a second. _How can he lift that thing?_

I watched Link lift the key above his head and slide it into the lock mechanism. Then he let go and stepped back. After a few seconds the key turned itself and the lock began spinning. Quickly, all the tumblers on the round lock fell into place and the huge hunk of iron holding the chains together fell to the ground, taking several chains with it. Some other chains just fell slack to the side of the door, allowing the huge door to roll to the side. _Talk about automatic doors. Good thing too, cause that door was over twice as tall as Link. I don't think he could have opened that one by himself._

I looked at Link. He looked at me. We both nodded and cautiously headed into the dark tunnel before us. We both had our lanterns out as we moved through the tunnel, which was over grown with weeds and moss. The tunnel went on a good while until a light appeared at the other end. When we finally made it to the other end, we found ourselves standing on the trunk of a very old, very huge tree trunk. The smell of freshly cut wood filled the air as we made our way onto the final battlefield. It appeared that the tree had been chopped down recently and now only the stump remained.

_What in the name of all that is good could have chopped a tree this large down? This thing must have been larger than four city blocks from Manhattan and larger than the Sears tower._ A figure suddenly landed onto the other side of the humongous stump. Link unsheathed his sword and I pulled out my Wii-mote. _What ever happened to my Ball and Vine?_ My thoughts drifted back to the time spent stuck in the mid-boss chamber. _Oh, yeah, we needed fire fuel. And I think it was starting to smell too._

"I see you've made it this far, Chosen Hero. But here is where your journey will end." I could hear Link's leather gloves groan as he tightened his grip on the hilt. The man addressing us looked like he was only ten years old. He had bleach blond hair, his skin was all white, his clothes, which consisted of a bleached white trench coat, long white pants, a white dress shirt, and a pair of white dress shoes. What had to be the most disturbing were his eyes. His eyes were white. But it wasn't just that. He had irises, it's just that they were as white as the rest of him. The only things he was wearing that weren't white were the dark bands he wore around his neck and wrists.

"Who are you," I shouted. The creepy albino looked at me and smirked.

"I see, so you are the boy that my master was talking about. You are to die as well, boy." I shivered. _I see, so he works for the witch as well. How many of these guys are there? First Jess and now this guy. Who's next, Kratos from Tales of Symphonia?_

"However since you are about to die a grisly death, I'll tell you my name, human." _Wait he isn't human? I guess that much should have been obvious to me, what with the all white get up._ "My name is Clarence Fromus, High servant of the Great and Terrible Azela, leader of those who serve under our master. Now, normally, I've underlings who do the dirty work, but apparently, my master wished for this to be done as quickly as possible. But, as things are, I've become incredibly busy, so I'll just leave you to play with this monster." The small form of Clarence poofed out of existence like a flame going up in smoke, leaving us alone on top of the giant tree stump.

_So he is the leader servant. But he looks so young, how can he be the leader. He couldn't be older than 10 year. And where's that monster he promised us?_ I looked around, but found nothing of the monster that Clarence spoke of. One look at Link told me that he was wondering the same thing. That was when we heard it. A large cracking sound, like trees branches snapping abruptly. We both looked toward the edge of the stump at the same time and saw a HUGE Deku head rise up. This thing was massive, as big if not bigger than the tree stump we stood on. Both me and Link stood as still as stone while staring straight into the depths of this massive creature's drool dripping, massively gaping jaw.

_That's… not the Boss I remember._ I had to drop to the floor next to Link and dig my hands and feet into the soft wood beneath me just to keep from blowing when the huge head let loose a bone rattling roar. I felt like I was sitting on a beach as a category five hurricane blew past. When the beast finally ceased crying out, I looked up and nearly forgot to control my bowels. _Oh God. There's more than one._ I stared as five, six, seven Deku heads rose up to join the first, all of them were at least as large as the first, and a majority of them were definitely larger. Their drool was falling from their gaping mouths like waterfalls of slime. _They're hungry… this is not good._

"Link!" He nervously glanced at me. "We are so dead."

* * *

So that's that. I finally go to the boss. Now I'm wondering how I can fit Ooccoo in. I'll just figure that out later. For now, just reveiw and tell me, did you like it? And if so, which parts were the best, and which parts didn't hold your interest as much as the rest did? I would greatly appreciate knowing these things. 

Thanks for reading.

* * *

And now it is time for advertisment. 

Ever wonder what you'd get if you mixed Tales of Symphonia with The Departed. Probably not, but **Canada Cowboy** on the other hand has. His story, **_Tales of the Departed_** is an excelent mix of the two story lines and keeps the reader on the edge of their seats with intrigue and action. If you enjoy action, adventure, and mystery, then check out:

_**Tales of the Departed**_

* * *

And just so that my stories don't feel neglected. 

What really happened during those 14 days when Genis was on Earth with Gaar. How did Genis get to be older, where did the demons come from, how in the heck did Esileif join the party? I address these questions in my new story:

_ **Chronicles of the Sage Siblings**  
_


	8. Twilight Parasite Megalo Diababa Pt 2

"I do not own The Legend of Zelda!" – I.K.A. Valian

* * *

"Speech" 

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

* * *

"Wake up!" 

I rolled over, ignoring the persistent command out of spite. _Maybe they'll go away if I ignore them. _I was either coming out of a dream or a nightmare. I wanted to keep dreaming whatever it was and I was currently dealing with that drowsy feeling, like the dream I was just in was just beyond my senses and quickly slipping away. My silent internal pleas fell on deaf ears.

"I told you to wake up!" I suddenly felt myself being lifted up from my bed. I opened my eyes just as I was thrown at the wall. When I didn't hit the wall, I opened my eye all the way to see grass flying past below me. Then I slammed into a tree and slid to the ground. I coughed out of instinct, but there was something wrong with what just happened. It suggested something that sent shivers up my spine. _Wasn't that supposed to hurt?_

"Finally. Come boy, the Malakhim Council has sequestered your presence." I stood up and brushed myself off. When I looked around all I could see was the vast green field that I was standing in. _Who was speaking to me? Why didn't that hurt? And… where am I? What happened to Link and that huge plant boss?_

"Boy, don't make me say it again. Come!" I spun around looking for the voice, yet the only thing I could see remained the vast expanse of green I was standing on. _Who in the world is speaking to me? Why can't I see them? Where am I? What's going on? How come I'm here?_

"Who said that? Where are you? Where am I? What is going on here?" Whoever was speaking to me sighed. My frustration from the situation and the lack of any answers explaining it almost slipped into hysteria. _Must be calm. Answers are never found by unfocused minds._

"Boy, I've not the time to deal with your antics. Come!" I felt someone or something grab my shirt and lift me into the air. _Whoa! What the heck!_

I looked down and saw that my shirt… _Wait, where'd my pajamas go? This is just too weird!_ Instead of my pajamas, I was now wearing a long white gown type thing, with silver rings stretching around my waist like a belt, only there was no buckle on the silver bands. _At least the sleeves are short. The air temperature here is almost too warm._ _Still, what happened? The last thing I remember was being thrown about by that monster plant in the forest temple. And then I fell over the cliff… I didn't… I couldn't have died!_

I pinched myself and much to my dissatisfied relief, felt pain. "Oh thank you God!"

"You'll have a real reason for thanking the Lord if you're not exiled for your crimes, boy." I again looked down at the portion of cloth covering my chest and the odd shape it took in the invisible grip of this person carrying me. _How is it holding me up? Never mind that, what did he mean by exile? Crimes? And if I am dead, is this Heaven, Hell, or some place else? If it is, why can't I see this guy? Is he some kind of invisible man?_

"What do you mean crimes? I haven't done anything!"

"Denying it will only carve even more sins into your soul. I suggest you shut up." _This guy's got some issues. I don't want to make him mad at me, but still, I've got to ask._

"Why can't I see you?" I felt the man carrying me shrug. _I give up. _"So… what? Is this Heaven or Hell? Am I to be judged?"

"In a way."

_How does that tell me where I am, let alone if I really am dead? _I sighed dejectedly "Judged and I didn't even get to live my life out." I swear at that moment I heard the guy holding me growl… or was it a grunt. Either way, he was swinging me about and it was becoming increasingly painful as the cloth I was wearing began to pull tight and pinch all over the place.

"The damage you inflicted upon the Lord's creations in your useless life rivals that of some of the Lesser Deserters."

"What have I done? And why won't you tell me?"

"If you don't know then what point would there be in telling you, besides, all will be made clear eventually." _Why won't anyone clue me in here? How can I figure out what I've done if no one will tell me what I'm accused of?_ "Quiet boy, your incessant blabbering is grinding upon my nerves."

"But I didn't say anything."

"Your thoughts are loud enough to wake one of the long dead dragons. Be silent boy! Else I'll remove your tongue post-haste." I stared at the space where I assumed this man to be with a blank expression on my face. _He can… hear my thoughts!_

I sighed and watched the verdant landscape pass me by. I couldn't be sure, but I think whoever this was decided to carry me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. It was becoming more painful the longer it carried on. Finally, we came to a stop and I was set on the ground.

"Thanks, it was beginning to really hurt."

"Quiet boy, you stand in the presence of Sidwe, a Realm Governess." _I do?_ I looked around and shook my head. _Why can't I see anyone or anything but this grassy field?_

"Child, fret not. Not all who come here have the sight and not all here who have it understand what they see. Your eyes will open when you're ready to see. Salutations, Guardian." I looked in the general direction of the, if possible, very flawless and perfect feminine voice. Its crescendos soothed my aches and put all worry that had been flitting about my mind to rest. _Who ever that was, she sounded really nice. I hope I get to meet her again when I'm able to see her._

"It is an honor Lady Sidwe." There was a short pause before I felt myself being tugged along again. "Come boy, you have been sequestered and it is not wise to be unpunctual." I was grateful to this Guardian didn't pick me up again. Nonetheless, I was pulled along at a stumbling pace toward a destination unseen.

Where ever our destination lied, I could deduce that it was inside of a building of many hallways. We turned left, then right, then right again, followed by another left, all in a wide open field. I took ten minutes to get from point A to point B because of all the twists and turns we were taking. After a long stretch of not turning, which was spent going up a steep hill with tall grass, we turned right around in a large half circle and went straight back the way we'd come, down the steep hill.

Finally we came to a stop in front of a large oak tree. It was taller than any tree I'd ever seen. I swear it was as tall as a skyscraper. I was happy to be done walking. My legs were burning from hours upon hours of walking up and down hills, down and up valleys, through rivers, caves, and sometimes a random bush.

"Boy, in this chamber, you will not speak. You will not move. You will do absolutely nothing and let me do and say everything. Got it?" The threatening way his voice wavered made it clear he meant business. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I understand." _Oww, my ears. _Again, I was grabbed by my shirt and pulled forward, straight at the large oak. _I can't pass through trees! _I held my hands up in front of my face in preparation of slamming into the large, very hard wooded tree.

Instead, we I came to a stop after a few feet of movement and I opened my eyes to find myself in a large meeting hall type room. At the other end of the room, inside of what looked like booths from a county fair sat five elderly looking men. Well, almost all of them were elderly men, one was a hot babe. _Err… Ahem, I mean woman._

Apparently, the woman heard me because I noticed her eyebrow twitching. She folded her arms and started tapping her left fingers on her right bicep. Her pissed look made me shiver on the spot. _How can someone go from 'not particularly interested' to 'I'm gonna kill, kill, kill' in less than a second?_

"So you think you're funny kid?"

_Oh crap! I forgot that people here seem to be able to hear my thoughts. Maybe I really shouldn't speak… or think._

"So you've just now come to that conclusion. Real smart one you are." I wanted to respond, I really did, but somehow I held my tongue and mind back. Apparently, my efforts showed up on my face because the lady smirked.

The man in the middle of the five festival booths stood up and looked straight at me. I felt like my insides were being rubbed and moved about. It felt like the man staring at me was reaching into my soul through my eyes and… _NO! Get out!!_

The man recoiled as if knocked back physically. He easily recovered with an exasperated sigh and nodded in my direction only a little off. I looked to my right to see a tall bald man wearing sunglasses. He was wearing a robe like me that had many different thing attached to it, like a blue patch here, and a yellow ribbon there. And the man almost seemed to be glowing.

Suddenly, the man reached out and punched me in the face. It actually didn't hurt; rather his hand went through my head. When he pulled his hand back though, it came back with something more than it had entered my head with, a glowing white orb floating a few inches above his hand.

My head turned to look back at the middle man and once more he stared at me intensely. I tried to close my eyes, to look away, anything. I even tried to resist his roving feelers, but try as I might, whatever once enabled me to resist was now gone, floating in the hand of the bald man next to me. After several minutes of standing there and feeling the old man reaching through the deepest parts of my soul, violating me in the worst possible manner, he retreated and sat down.

"I find him… guilty." Again, I tried to speak, to object to the arbitrary verdict, but my willpower was missing. I was only able to look, not act. It was very aggravating to say the least.

"I agree, he brought the devourer to our lands."

"I concur, he bears the smell of evil."

"Yes, he should be banished!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Banish the destroyer of worlds!"

Every one of the four male judges were agreeing heartily and nodding at each other. I knew I should be afraid. I knew that this news, this verdict of no confidence was like a death sentence. But the only way I could even show emotion was floating in the hand of the bald man standing next to me. I wanted to say something. I had to say something. To feel angry, sad, curious, confused. But I could barely get myself to have a fleeting emotion.

My frustration grew to the point that I could feel my body begin to tremble. I don't know how it happened, or where it came from, but to the surprise of everyone in the room, my lips moved and I said, "I-I-I-I… don't want to die." The judges stopped their speaking to stare at me and it seemed all time stopped to stare at me.

I must admit, I sounded like a coughing frog, but the fact that I'd said anything astonished all of the judges, even the woman, who remained silent throughout the deliberations of where exactly to send me. She used to have a disinterested look on her face and now she was staring at me with an eyebrow raised. The look she was giving me again made my skin crawl, which wasn't such a bad thing now that my will power had been removed.

The woman stood up and approached me. When she was within three feet of me she stopped. Now, I'm not a short person, but this woman was taller than me. Her ample bosom was at my eye level, which I couldn't complain about, but neither could I think happier thoughts either. After a few seconds she seemed to realize what I was almost thinking and crossed her arms.

"Say again?" she demanded. "Speak up boy!" I tried again to draw on the strength that allowed me to speak before, but it would not come. "Feh, as I assumed. You are weak. Kiwas seems to have lost his touch."

Weak? Did she call me weak? I've nearly been killed by some crazy witch. I was sucked into a video game. I've been beaten up by a girl. I was brainwashed by that witch twice. "I am not weak!" Again the room fell silent as everyone stared at me. The woman turned to look at the glowing orb in the bald man's head and then turned back toward me. Confusion was etched across her face.

Without warning, she grabbed my head in one of her hands, _those things are massive_, and squeezed. The pressure gave me the worst headache I'd ever felt, one I assume migraine sufferers feel all the time. In seconds flat I was unconscious.

And then I woke up. I was in the dream library again. Only all the books were missing. All except one, which was didn't have a title. After flipping through the empty pages, I put the book down on the table and continued to look around. As I passed by the window I stopped and stared slack jawed. The library was surrounded by a golden looking glow that had more in common with nuclear fire than any kind of glow I'd ever seen.

"Bout time you showed up!" I spun around and there was Kurosaki. He didn't look too happy. "Do you realize that all your books were stolen? Now you have nothing to read in here! The only book is one without a title and no words. And not only that, but you died! And now I'm bored stiff. Get some damn books in here pronto!"

I stared at Kurosaki like a fish out of water. Seriously, this whole thing was just getting crazier and crazier. I pointed out the window, then at the shelves, and then at myself. The entire time I tried to speak, but whenever I tried to form words, it just came out as gibberish blabbering.

"So, this is your dreamscape. Rather dull. Only Sidwe would ever come in here." I turned around and there at the door was standing the woman from the court room. She now wore a long red gown with long sleeves and a high collar. Her hair, which was a drab brown in the courtroom, was now a bright flaming red. And her eyes were now red too. In fact, it would be easier to say that she emitted red rather than wore it.

Kurosaki walked up to the woman and stood with his arms crossed. They looked like they were the same height. For several minutes they eyed each other up before the woman sighed and shook her head.

"I should have known there was more to you than met the eye boy. Valian was it. If you could withstand something like that, what was it you called it… oh yes, that witch. If you could stand against that, then there had to be something more under the hood then a normal human soul and change." The woman poked Kurosaki a few times before she smirked. "What an interesting mental representation for your inner strength. Who is he supposed to be?"

"My name's Kurosaki Ichigo. What's yours?"

"Oh. So confident… More so than the rest of you. I suppose it is only natural, being your new power in its strongest form." The woman walked around Kurosaki, sizing him up before she turned to me and sauntered over and leaned on the counter. "You realize that power hasn't always been here right? It was put here when the witch attacked you in your room."

The fact that she knew about everything that had happened and that I'd never said anything on the subject left me with my mouth hanging open. This woman seemed familiar too. She smiled teasingly at me when she saw my expression. "Oh don't worry about how I know such things. I am a governess after all. We have access to all kinds of information. For instance, this power that you have here isn't actually your own, it is the witches. She was pulled into our universe as she was consuming your soul. Somehow you were able to open a rift in dimensional space, though you'll have to direct all questions regarding that to my sister.

"As the witch was pulled into the vortex, she had to abandon this large amount of energy. Because you then possessed a piece of the witch's powers, you too were sucked into the vortex. Over time you absorbed her power and made it your own, giving you abilities that are not normally present in a human.

"Now, as my dear sister would say, you need to focus if you want to succeed." The woman waved her hand about disinterestedly. "Whatever. You just need to learn to summon your newfound powers and channel them. So, in that way, I'll help you."

I, being unable to really move or do anything because the lack of willpower seemed to have reached even here, just stood there transfixed by the fiery lady before me. She turned serious again and made sure I was looking at her before she continued.

"You must remember, you did die. You will only be allowed to do so this one time. After this, you're on your own, go it." The woman seemed to notice the look of incredulity I was giving her.

"It really isn't power over life and death so much as mastery over my domain. I am a Governess remember. That means I'm allowed some liberties when it comes to the mortal coil. You don't have to worry about those whiny old Mid Quis judges either. Unless you die again…" She let the cold threat float in the air for a moment.

As I contemplated what she'd said, the woman turned to Kurosaki and started talking to him in hushed whispers and hand gestures. He nodded and responded in kind. This went on for a while. When they finished, Kurosaki turned and hurried off while the woman turned to me.

"For you to start to learn, you must first say his name. In your head or out loud, it doesn't matter. When you do so, it will trigger a temporary transformation that will enable you to use these powers however you see fit. That device you have that turns into anything, that will become a holy sword called the Celestial Tsurugi. It is a weapon that only you will be able to form and use as it is tied to your soul.

"While transformed, you will gain knowledge about how to use the abilities that you would not otherwise have. Remember, it's temporary. And there are other transformations that you can make, but until you've realized your potential beyond pure power, this is the only one you'll have." I nodded at the woman and she seemed satisfied. We started walking out the door but she stopped and turned to me again.

"One last thing. If you truly wish to take down the witch and help the Chosen Hero, then you will have to figure out your new powers quickly. She and those who've aligned with her will give no quarter." The woman looked up and swept her hand around the room. Suddenly all the shelves were full of books and I was free to move once more.

"Thank yo-"

"Don't thank me, not yet. You're being put back into danger you realize."

"…yeah, I realize that. But if I'm the one who brought the witch here and I'm the one with her powers, then I'm the one who has to stop her. It's my fault she's terrorizing Hyrule. I've got to take responsibility for my actions."

"Feh, now you're starting to sound like Kiwaw. Just don't die again and you should be alright Valian." I rolled my eyes and went to go out the door again when the woman stopped me. "Are you ready to go back now?"

I nodded. "You know, you're prettier than I imagined you as."

The woman smiled and said, "Hold on tight," before she leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. The sensation was like poison laced with fire. My entire body felt like it was exploding with so much heat, so much pressure, that I thought I'd melt, turn to ash, or explode. Then my vision went completely white.

* * *

Link cried out as he watched Valian fall down into the cavernous ravine surrounding the tree. He didn't have long to ponder his companion's conditions before he was forced to duck and then roll forward to avoid being squished by a plant vine larger than the tree his house was built into. Link steeled himself and dismissed Valian's fate for the time being, focusing on the matter at hand, that is, the plant creature trying its damnedest to kill him. 

"Link," Midna spoke from the swordsman's shadow, "It has a weakness. I wonder if you can find it. Hehehe." Link grunted in pain as he lunged to the side to avoid another vine. He growled and glanced at his shadow in annoyance. Around him, the plant seemed to be everywhere. Its vines were whipping the rest of the trees, lopping off lesser branches and scoring deeply into the thicker wood. Some vines were latched onto branches higher up. That gave Link an idea.

He pulled out his slingshot and began rolling and shooting at the support vines. As soon as the Megalo Diababa realized what Link was doing, it attacked all the fiercer. There were six vines holding the main body of the plant creature up. And when Link shot one with his slingshot, it recoiled in pain and let go of the tree it was latched onto to slap at Link. When knocked the last support vine out with his sling shot, he had to roll and flip in the direction of the tunnel that led to the temple to avoid being crushed by the eight falling mouths. They snapped wildly at Link as he ran around them.

Once he was found an opening, Link leaped into the area behind all the heads and started hacking away at the neck of the vine, which wasn't covered in the thick hide like the rest of the creature. If one were to compare it to anything, the neck and its meaty insides closely resembled a really thick noodle oozing with tomato sauce.

Link flipped backwards and with a leap and a cry, cleaved the remains of the plant's head off. The head jumped and hopped around, snapping and sputtering at nothing until at last it stopped and shriveled up on the spot. Link hadn't waited for that to happen, he'd already leap toward the next Deku head, a much larger one, and started hacking away at that one's neck. It was nearly chopped off when the support vines lashed out and pulled the plant back up into its original position. The head Link had nearly taken off hung limply to the side, though it did snap every so often to show it still held a spark of life.

Link grunted and set his jaw for another round with the monster. He went about shooting the support vines with his sling shot once more while dodging wildly erratic vines and snapping maws. When the plant fell again, Link leaped into action. He sliced the head he had yet to finish off the previous round with a single jump strike. Then he went to work on another neck chopping and slashing away madly.

With another jump strike, he cleaved his third head off and then was forced to retreat as the monster once again struck out with its support vines and lifted itself back up. Link pulled out his slingshot to once more shoot at the support vines, when he was stuck in the side by a vine he had failed to see coming. He hit the ground hard and the slingshot sailed freely over the side of the tree stump that was serving as the battle field.

Link could only watch in horror as the only means of knocking this monster down flew from view. Suddenly, much to Link's delight, the slingshot flew back into view. And then he saw the ball of blue light carrying the ranged weapon. Shion weaved in and out of the writhing tentacle like vines until he reached Link, who managed to make it a safe distance back into the cavernous entrance where the roving plant creature couldn't reach.

"Here," the fairy said, dropping the slingshot into Link's hands. "I saw this falling and I assumed you'd want it back. I have some bad news, Valian didn't make it. His neck was snapped from the impact with the vine." Link nodded at the fairy consolingly before he tightened his grip on the returned slingshot and ran back toward the plat creature.

The dead husks of three of its heads rolled about as they were battered by the vines when Link entered their range once more. This time he knocked out all the support vines with ease and went to work chopping three more of the heads off. Once link had chopped the sixth head off, the creature shrieked in defeat and slid off the end of the stump and down into the ravine.

The head that Link had chopped off last exploded into a million little black squares of shadow magic. The squares hovered in the air for a few seconds before they sucked themselves back together in the shape of one Fused Shadow. Midna immediately jumped from Link's shadow and latched onto the piece of ancient magic infused armor with her magical orange hand that formed itself from her hair.

"Good work hero. We finally have the first one. Maybe this journey won't be so long after all." Midna retracted her magical hair and took the Fused Shadow with it to goddesses only knows where. Then she floated over to the edge and looked down. Shion and Link moved next to her and stared down into the darkness. "Hmph, a lot of good he did. Then he just up and dies."

Link shook his head. He sheathed his sword started walking away. On his way across the wooden stump, he noticed a glowing heart container. With a whoop of glee he picked it up and held it against his chest. The stone glowed and then absorbed itself into his body.

"I think I'll go find a new place to stay. Bye."

Midna snorted at the retreating fairy and floated back toward Link. "Whatever. Link, let's get going and find the next-" Midna froze as the plant creature leaped from the chasm and prepared to strike down Midna with its gaping maw. She spun around wide eyed and threw her hands up in as the creatures' drooling mouth came down upon her.

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!" The plant was suddenly cleaved neatly in two. The two half landed on either side of Midna. After a few seconds of waiting for the afterlife, Midna peeked her one eye out from behind her small arm and saw Valian standing on the edge of the platform. He was holding the hilt of a strange glowing sword that was resting on his shoulder in one hand and had the other extended toward the dead plant with two fingers pointed up in the shape of a 'V'. His clothes, formerly a cloth he referred to as pajamas had transformed into what looked like red and orange light infantry armor that ancient warriors might have worn, much like Midna's mask. Finally he said, "Whew, that thing took forever to kill."

* * *

I knew that Link and Midna would be surprised to see me, but their expressions were priceless. _Being dead sure has strange effects on the living._ _I wish I had a camera to take a picture of this._ Their mouths were virtually dragging the ground. Then my attention was drawn to where the two halves of that head I'd just cleaved in two had landed. _Oh… I can hardly believe I just saved Midna. Cool! Even better, now she owes me. Cool!_

With a weird sucking sound, I felt my powers suck back into my body, the Celestial Tsurugi in my hand transformed back into the Wii-mote. _ I feel like a sponge now._ Suddenly the extent of my exertions caught up to me and my arms and legs felt like lead. My whole body ached. And for some reason my eyes... just wouldn't…

* * *

Well, that's that. I must say, this was a fun chapter to write. I loved writing the battle scene. It was fun coming up with a battle that I thought could really take place in one of the games. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and if you want to see a drawing I made of the Celestial Tsurugi, there's a link to the blog in my profile where I put all my pictures. Please review and thanks for reading.

* * *

And now for the AD: 

Want to go an adventure? Check out **Twilight Reckoning** by _freakyanimegal456_. Follow the adventures of Link's daughter and Midna's son as they try to rid Hyrule of a new wave of Twilight. But who could be behind it, since Zant is no more? Read and find out!


	9. A Long Journey Ahead

"I do not own the rights to anything that belongs to someone else!" – I.K.A. Valian

* * *

"Speech" 

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

* * *

Midna was most certainly, and without objection, not pleased. There was something wrong, she could feel it, right down to the ancient magic screaming at her as it flowed through her veins. Every time she had to deal with this so called oracle, there was something that just felt wrong. Every time she heard his voice, she cringed as the vibrations in the air grated on her nerves. Everything about this boy did not sit well with her. 

She didn't know why either. She didn't know what she disliked more, the foul taste she got in her mouth from admitting how easily she was put off guard, or that she didn't know how to make heads or tales of what was going on. Her fears of not knowing fought with her pride and her notion of independence. Her illusions of simplicity were gone now, shattered like so many mirrors. She knew, and she hated knowing this, that the boy could provide invaluable information that would enable her to get her the power she needed to kill Zant, the Fused Shadow. He had proved as much in the Forest Temple. And yet… the uneasy feeling of wrongness about this boy remained. If it were even possible, this feeling, this abhorrent wrongness that emanated from him, had grown stronger. And Midna did not like feeling this uneasiness and uncertainty. It irritated her to no end. It made her want to rant, rave, and destroy random objects. No, Midna was not pleased at all.

"Do you think moving this slow will enable you to save your friends any faster? If this is as fast as you can go, old age will set in before you even arrive there, a sword in one hand, a cane in the other." Link, whose shadow Midna comfortably and lazily waded around in, grunted in annoyance as he shifted the weight of Valian on his shoulder and tried to pick up is pace. Even Link seemed to notice it, the strangeness of this newcomer, though he was far more accepting than she was ever going to be. A flaw of his that she happily exploited toward her own ends many a time. Now though…

Midna bit her tongue to stave off her own annoyed impatience and scowled in her shadow cast displeasure. This entire situation was not how it was supposed to be, this knew from instinct. Perhaps her instincts were the reason she was so uneasy. '_Then again_,' she thought, '_perhaps not_.' Link, meanwhile, plugged along in his customary manner, bearing straight toward his destination, never wavering or slowing. The sun was slowly sinking into the horizon, marking the passage of another day in Hyrule's Ordona Province.

One hour and thirty minutes later they arrived at Link's house. Link nearly dropped Valian's body on the way up the ladder bridging the ground with Link's tree-borne house, but Link managed to catch him by the remnants of his vastly deteriorated clothing. Once inside, Link deposited Valian's sleeping form on the floor next to the fire place. He always liked that spot himself, when he was here alone, meditating. At first Link didn't know why Rusl had suggested the calming technique, but after trying it, he saw the usefulness of it. He found the calming effect of the meditation and the focus that accompanied the trance like state enabled him to think more clearly, act and react faster, and most important of all, it gave him a brief respite from his increasingly hectic life. That was before all this hero business. Now, he had neither time nor place for rest.

Link started up a fire and then disappeared into his storage room below. When he returned, he held a slab of meat that was eventually chucked into the pot that hung on a chain inside of the open oven. The fumes of cooking meat filled the small house and escaped through the chimney attached to the oven. While the meat was cooking, Link busied himself with the cleaning of his sword and shield. He took extra care to mend any tears in the new tunic and under garments bestowed upon him by Great Spirit Protectors of Hyrule.

Meanwhile Midna had taken up a semi-transparent residence in a dark corner of the room, brooding to herself and staring at Valian with her one red eye half lidded in concentration. Her scowl, which adorned her face since departing Link's shadow, hadn't moved an inch. No matter how she looked at it, she didn't like this Valian. Maybe letting him tag along wasn't such a good idea.

When the meat finished cooking, Link offered Midna some, but she waved it off. Hylian meats weren't particularly suited for her pallet. Instead, as Link ate, she swooped down next to Valian and poked him on the forehead. The firelight made Midna's body seem to fade in and out of solid form. Having had enough, Midna let out a frustrated growl and leaped into the air, flooded her hair with magic so that it transformed into a large orange hand, pointed it at Valian, and let loose several black sparks from the tip of the finger.

* * *

"Yeeeooww!" I pushed myself as high into the air as I could. Actually, it was more of a large leap than a push. I'm not sure what it was. It's like electricity was coursing through my body and I couldn't control my movements. Shivering from the rude and most certainly electrifying awakening, I quickly did a scan of the room. 

_Where am I_? At first it all didn't seem fit any place I knew of. The fire inside of the adobe shaped oven, the scowling and now slightly happier transparent imp floating next to me, the hero clad in green eating what looked like a steak with is bare hands, the smell of cooked meat, the… _Wait, I remember now. But… is this Link's house?_ Looking around again, this time taking it all in slowly, I nodded my head in appreciation. _This place isn't that bad. Kind of small, but cozy if there are only one or two people living here._

"Ahem." I turned and looked at, or rather, through Midna. _She doesn't look happy. Wait a minute… Midna never looks happy! I hope I didn't do anything while I was dead that pissed her off though. I don't really want to become fried Valian tonight. _

Midna pointed at me, a mixture of accusation and curiosity crossing her features before she locked into place a bland poker face. "You are a mystery," she said flatly. I raised my right eyebrow as she went on. "You literally appear out of nowhere and just happen to conveniently know everything. It's just too convenient. You feel wrong. You sound wrong. Everything about you is wrong. You're an aberration in nature, you shouldn't exist, and still you do."

"I- uh… Sorry?" Midna didn't reveal any emotions in response to my answer. Instead she sighed, crossed her arms and floated closer, pulling on some of my hair.

"At first I didn't think anything of it," she said whimsically, slowly rotating around me, inspecting my clothing and general appearance. She stopped to pull off a few rotten pieces of my nigh dead pajamas before moving on. "You knew what I needed, found what I wanted. For whap purpose should I have been suspicious of you." Midna stopped speaking when she came to rest in the spot she'd started in. _I don't like the look she's giving me. _"But then we ran into the servant of what you call the Witch." _Oh yeah, Jess… _Midna leveled a stare at me that could bore through two feet of steel, and believe you me, that stare bored clean through my skull. It made my mouth dry up. "Before I allow you to go any farther, you will tell me everything you know."

I swallowed loudly, staring into Midna's single visible eye. The intensity that she was staring at me was completely unreal, especially after the way she'd woken me up. _Why can't I just be one of those guys in Fan Fiction that is easily accepted into the story? Why can't this be one of those stories, where everything goes right?_ After moaning and groaning internally about my oh-so-tragic woes, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. _Of course, if this was one of those stories, I wouldn't be facing life and limb every time I set out to do something. I wouldn't have to worry about dying since the author, heh... me, I wouldn't allow that. And most certainly,_ I opened my eyes and gave Midna a steady stare. _I wouldn't have to keep proving myself to her or Link._

Speaking of Link, he decided to get up and toss the remains of the meat out the window next to him. I heard the refuse hit the ground with a slight thump. When he was done cleaning up after himself, he settled down on the carpet against the ladder that lead up to the second floor and watched me curiously. _Apparently he wants to know everything too._ Butterflies suddenly filled my stomach as I seriously considered telling them everything._ Should… Should I really tell them? Can I tell them? What would happen if I did tell them? What would happen if I didn't? If the Witch is working with Zant, then things are far worse than even I imagined them to be. Heck, I hoped I'd defeated her, or at least stopped her, here in the village. Then Jess came along and ruined that hope… I wonder if she's okay. I hope the Witch didn't hurt her._

I sighed. _I have to tell them, if I don't they could get hurt or die because they didn't know about what was out there. Besides, I always hate it when people keep secrets._

"Alright, I'll tell you everything. There's going to be things that will be hard to accept." I snorted and said under my breath, "I don't even believe half of this stuff." Midna just crossed her arms and leaned back into the air, staring bemusedly at me. Link scooted forward a bit, crossed his legs, and straightened his back.

"I won't bore you with my life story, so I'll just start with the important stuff." I took a deep breath and tried to suppress the wound up springs bouncing around my insides. _Here goes nothing. _"What I told you about being from another world was true. I'm from another planet. My people call it Earth, which is a word that stems from one of our ancient languages. History aside, I lived in an era of our planet where technology is much, much more advanced than it is here." That seemed to pique Midna's interest.

"What kind of technology?" she asked. Thinking fast, I searched around my body till I found the Wii-mote and held it up for her to inspect.

"This is what's called a Wii Remote. It's pretty advanced as far as technology goes, but it doesn't compare to the more advanced stuff we have back on Earth. Actually, compared to that, this is very archaic." Midna eyed the plastic encased wonder in front of her curiously before I retracted my hand. "The reason I bring up the technology is because that is how I know so much about this place. About you, and Link, and all of Hyrule."

Midna floated closer to me, before she backed off and started floating back and forth, her braided hair swaying along. "You say you know a lot, so tell me what you know already."

"Well," I started, "this is where it gets harder to believe, if that first part wasn't hard to believe. Our technology isn't what enables us to become 'Oracles'. Not really anyway. Our technology allows us to play games, wage war, communicate over impossibly long distances, loads of things. The history of Hyrule, as you know it, was presented to the masses of people on Earth in the form of interactive story telling."

"Interactive?"

"It basically means that we control the main characters of the story, in Hyrule's case, Link. For you though, the most shocking aspect of this isn't that it's being relayed to others. I'm guessing that the shocking part would be about what Earthlings view it as; a game." I let the silence sink my last statement into them. _If they don't believe that, then I might as well stick to the oracle argument, because anything I say will just be bologna._

"So you and your people view our history, the lives we live and the feelings we have, as entertainment?" Midna asked slowly, having difficulty swallowing that one fact. _I know that if I found out my life was a video game, I'd be upset too. _"What else is there?" Midna inquired, masking her emotions as best she could. I glanced at Link, who looked very much into the meditation or whatever it was he was doing. Though he did have a slightly disgruntled look on his face.

"I can tell you that had the Witch not done shown up, you'd both have gone on to defeat both Zant, his puppet master, and save all of Hyrule and the Twilight Realm."

"What do you mean by 'puppet master'?" Midna was staring curiously at me again.

"I did tell you I'd tell you everything," I sighted. After clearing my throat, I went on. _I wonder how they'll take this._ "The puppet master is the man who is to blame for everything bad that has happened thus far. He is the one behind Zant's rise to power. He is the one who spread Twilight over Hyrule. He's also the one who broke the… uh…" I motioned for Midna to come closer. She floated leisurely toward me until her ear was next to my mouth. "The puppet master is broke the Mirror of Twilight into four pieces."

Midna shot backwards like I'd slapped her. Eye wide in surprise and shock, she stammered, "How… But… Only the true ruler of the Twili can destroy the Mirror."

I shook my head. "No, the puppet master didn't destroy it. You're right about that." Midna seemed a little relieve by my comment, and then became confused once more. I continued explaining. "The puppet master, also known as Gannondorf, was cast into the Twilight Realm as part of his sentence for trying to revolting, or some other such thing. However, he had a power, one related to Link's, that enabled him to breach the barrier between worlds and allowed him to escape. He tried to destroy the Mirror, but was only able to separate it into four pieces." Midna nodded. _Apparently, that all makes a lot of sense to her._

"There's really too much to tell you, a lot of history you wouldn't understand unless I explained everything, which would take days of talking. So I'll just tell you that the power Link has, the thing that makes him the Goddesses' Chosen Hero, is none other than the Triforce of Courage." Midna slowly turned her head to look at Link. He still had his eyes closed and his back straight, but his ears long were standing straighter upwards. "Gannondorf has the Triforce of Power. That's what enabled him to breach the space between dimensions. That's what gave Zant his power."

"I see. This is all very revealing. However, the Triforce is a holy relic left by the goddesses themselves," said Midna. "Why would they let someone like this Gannondorf have it?" I smiled sadly.

"They didn't. It's part of the Imprisoning Wars. I assume you've heard of it. Anyway, it was a long time ago."

"Yes, I've heard of them," Midna huffed. "However, those are mere legends." _I wonder how she knows about it if her people were stuck in the Twilight Realm when it happened… Maybe she read about it in the castle library here in Hyrule._

"Well, like I said, it would take days of explaining to tell you every single detail. And I don't know everything about Hyrule's history. Anyway, as of right now, Gannondorf has taken over Hyrule by usurping the throne of the Twili from-…" I caught the death glare Midna was giving me. _Oh… yeah, she doesn't want anyone to know. _"…from the Twili ruler. He used the powers he gained from the Triforce of Power to spread his influence over Hyrule. Zant, being his loyal servant, rules the Twilight Realm. And then the Witch got here, followed by me."

"Yes." Midna floated over to Link and lifted him into the air using her magic. I watched slightly amused as Midna maneuver him around the room and wonder if he would open his eyes to find himself sitting on the ceiling. "You two appeared. Explain that part now."

"Okay, I was literally minding my own business when this stranger knocks on the door. I knew something was wrong because strangers just don't knock on doors in the middle of the night where I'm from. I rushed to the door just in time to see my sister being pulled out by this creepy looking hand. Then the lights went out. When they came back on, she was in my house, in my head. I tried to fight her, but I couldn't stop her from making my body do as she wished, making my mind think what she wanted. There were stories about her in the news; she'd been going across the land, killing and eating people for their life energies. Anyway, somehow, I managed to stop her. I still don't know how it happened, but I managed to get the knife she was going to kill me with… and then I stabbed her with it.

"Thinking she was dead, I left for my room in shock. I'd never killed anyone before, let alone someone who was literally raping my mind. And my sister too, she was gone. Once I was in my room, I felt the Witch's presence again, outside my door. I tried to hold her off, but she was really going all out and blew the door off its hinges. When she went to attack me again, I held up the closest thing I could grab in front of me. What ever I was holding, it stopped the Witches attack and ripped a hole space and time, creating a black vortex. Both me and the Witch were sucked in and apparently ended up here."

I sat in silence for a few moments, reliving the terror of that night. The fear that I'd felt when the Witch reached out and grabbed my sister, it felt like the ground had been pulled out from beneath me. The shock and anger I felt when I saw that Witch in the doorway. The disgust with myself when all I wanted to do was run away. The events of that night were burned into my retina and my memory alike. And I'd probably never ever forget what happened that night.

And now that terror was rolling across Hyrule. _All because I did something to rip a hole in the space time continuum and created a vortex that sucked us both into Hyrule._ I felt a wave of dampened anger wash over me, followed by a wave of depression. _What if I can't beat her? _I shrugged, quickly throwing the depressing thoughts away. _If I can't beat her, I'll die and probably go to Hell or be banished from heaven or something, which might be better than being eaten by that Witch._

Midna was watching me carefully, not sure what to say. She suspected that there was more though. "What then," she asked.

I sighed, pushing my emotions aside. _Got just a little more of this odd tale to impart. _"I don't really understand it myself, but according to, uh, what was her name again…" After thinking for a few seconds, I gave up. _I'll just call her Din. She was emitting red after all. _"Din."

"Din?"

"Yeah, Din. When I died back there in the temple, Din resurrected me. She also told me about these powers I have."

"Din, one of the three Goddesses of Hyrule. Din, the Goddess of Power, creator of the Triforce of Power, resurrected you?" I winced.

"You don't have to say it so accusingly!" Midna scowled at me and I rubbed my ears as if Midna's accusing tone had been a high pitched noise. "Yeah," I said, "She pretty much laid the fate of defeating the Witch on my shoulders." After looking at Midna's incredulous face for several seconds, I indignantly said, "It's not like I can make any more sense of it than you can. I don't even feel like I died, but according to her, I was dead."

"No, you were dead, that Fairy thing said as much."

_Oh, yeah, Shion… I wonder what happened to him. Where did he go? _"Anyway, Din told me that I absorbed a large portion of the Witch's power and that I was pretty much the only one with the power to stop her. And as you were saying before, if I don't feel like I belong naturally, it's probably because of her powers. After all, it's made up of human souls." Midna nodded, quite clearly disgusted.

"What, it's not like magic here hasn't manipulated life energy." Midna scowled.

"Just because I can do it, does not mean that I enjoy it. It's a vulgar method of doing something that can easily be done by other, cleaner methods." Link suddenly decided to open his eyes, and upon noticing the ceiling below him, screamed and then fell. Just before he slammed head first into the floor, Midna caught him with her magic, setting him down gently with a giggle.

Once Link got over how close to a broken neck he'd gotten, he stood up, brushed himself off, and then scowled at Midna, who giggled again. _Hmm… She really likes teasing him._

"There's one more thing." Both the hero and the princess looked at me. "Well it's more like a few things, but it's… well, what I mean is, do you remember how that Witch's servant, Jess, was sent to kill Link, and then later, that little albino kid as well?" Both of the other nodded slowly. "Well, if they were servants of the Witch, and she's in the Twilight Realm, then doesn't that mean that she's working for Zant? Or worse, she killed Zant and took over the Twilight Realm.

Striking a thoughtful pose, Link eventually nodded and Midna, with her ever present scowl, nodded as well. "Well, in any case, I need to figure out these powers. To do that, the Light Spirit Faron told me that I have to go see the Princess of Wisdom."

"And just who is this _Princess _supposed to be?" Midna drawled. She did not, apparently, expect me to answer so quickly.

"Zelda." They both seemed to be taken aback by the simplicity of my answer. I smiled secretively. _Hehe, surprises around every corner. I wish it weren't that way, but oh well._ "According to Faron, the Witch is going to grow in power until she is so powerful she can leave this dimension and in all likely hood… consume others." I felt anger slowly building up in my veins like heat from a furnace. "I… won't let that happen." Link looked me up and down, noting my clenched fist, before he walked up to me. He looked me in the eye and put his hand on my shoulder. _I guess this is his way of saying that he'll help. Well, I'll help him while he helps me, that way, we can get rid of two problems at once: The King of Evil and the Twilight Witch._

I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. _Maybe a weight has been lifted; after all, I'm not the only one who knows about the Witch now. What was her name… the Great and Terrible Azela? Heh, kinda corny out dated._

We slept in Link's tree house that night. Even though, it was just a bunch of rugs that I slept on, it was actually pretty comfortable. Comfortable, that is, if you can ignore Link's snoring, Midna's constant muttering, and the bugs.

The next morning, which couldn't have come sooner, we prepared to leave the Ordon Village, Rusl's wife, Uli, appeared. She came bearing clothing that Rusl wanted to give to me. He remembered the clothes I'd worn before and thought something more appropriate was in order.

After thanking her many, many times, these pajamas were comparable to ripped rags, I donned my new clothing. There was a leather Jerkin, which was light and comfortable. The pants, made of something like wool, were warm. Unlike wool, the pant's breathed fairly well. Maybe it was made of goat hair. I also got a red coat that went down to my waist and had two tails in the back. It almost reminded me of a combination between Kratos' Swallow Tail cape in Tales of Symphonia and a wind breaker.

When I came out of Link's house, more people had gathered, that is, all the villagers except Rusl. He was at home resting. As we were leaving, the Mayor stopped me and slung the strap of a leather bag around my head. "Let Ilia and the rest of the kids know they're going to be okay, will ya." I looked Bo in the eye and nodded, which made the bigger man slump a little. _He's probably relieved. _I turned, pushing the Wii-mote and lantern into the bag that now hung on my shoulder and then followed Link beyond Ordon Village's limits.

As we passed Coro, we waved at him. He wanted us to buy oil, like he always does in the game, but we didn't really need any. So we passed him by and made our way toward Hyrule Field. From the way the path looked, it was more of a dry creek bed than a path way. Nonetheless, we eventually came upon two Bokoblins guarding the exit of the pathway. Link drew his sword, immediately notifying the Bokoblins of our presence. _So much for a surprise attack._ As the monster rushed toward us, crying out in their funny way, Link charged.

I pulled out the Wii-mote and paused. _Hmm… I think I want a Lightsaber!_ I closed my eyes and imagined a lightsaber. When I opened them again, I was slightly disappointed to find no lightsaber. _What… I though it could become anything! Maybe I need to concentrate harder._ I closed my eyes and focused entirely on turning the Wii-mote into a lightsaber. When I opened my eyes again, still no lightsaber.

I looked up and saw that more Bokoblins had come to play and Link was going to town on them. _Dammit, I'm missing all the action. Okay, how about that aluminum baseball bat._ Without even waiting for me to finish my though, the Wii-mote transformed into an aluminum baseball bat. _Well, at least that worked._ I rushed forward, knocking one Bokoblin upside the head, sending him to oblivion. _Heh, I feel like Casey Jones! Time to crack some skulls!_ Link had already gone through several of the creatures. Pieces of them lay all over the place. As me and Link made our way forward, more and more Bokoblins appeared. _What's with this, there weren't this many monsters here in the game. I wonder…  
_"I see you didn't die, how unfortunate for you both." The Bokoblins stopped their attack. In fact, when that albino little boy appeared, the all screeched in terror and ran away. Link gripped his sword and shield tighter. He and I glared at Clarence as he rolled his eyes and whined, "It's not like you didn't have ample chance to get killed in the temple. I mean, come on, why do you have to live so badly anyway. Anyway, it's not like you have any chance of defeating my master."

"Hey, for your information, I did die!" I shouted, waving my bat around my head. "And let me tell you, it wasn't pleasant!" _This kid is really getting on my nerves. He's acting and talking like we're not even here._ I clenched my hand tighter around the Wii-mote as it transformed back from the aluminum bat.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry to tell you but you wasted your energy coming back to life. It's not worth it putting up the energy need to fight us, really!" _Oh yeah, this guy was really pissing me off._ I looked over at Link and saw that he wasn't very pleased with this guy either. _At least I'm not the only one._ "Okay, you know what, I'll be nice. I'll give you another chance to die. So don't ever say that Clarence Fromus never did anything for you." Like before, Clarence disappeared as if he were a flame that went up in smoke.

This time, Link and I were both on high alert after the albino disappeared. The last time he did that, that huge-ass plant thing in the Forest Temple appeared. This time a Twilight Portal appeared in the sky. From it rained hundreds of Twilight Keese and Twilight Messengers and they didn't stop falling either. There was something off though. These beasts were different from other Twilight beings. Instead of being all black with multicolored writing sprawled across their bodies, they were completely white, with black writing sprawled across their bodies. _Now that is odd… They're all white. I think I'll call them Dawn creatures, yeah._

"Link, I hope you can handle them." Link turned to me in mock shock, before he smirked, shifted the grip he had on his sword, charge straight into the mass of strange creatures. _I better get going too. Let's see if I can't use that Celestial Tsurugi again._ I closed my eyes and imagined the cool sword I had when I was revived from the dead. But when I opened my eyes, nothing was there but the Wii-mote. _Uhh… oh crap._ "Ahh!"

I ducked underneath the swing of a massive pure white arm as one of the Dawn Messengers swung at me. I managed to push myself to my feet and run away from the thing, reforming the aluminum bat. "If I can't make the sword, I'll have to work with this thing." I stopped and spun around to see that the one Dawn Messenger that was attacking me wasn't following the rest of his group and attacking Link. _Strange, am I that underestimated?_ Link was doing well, for someone who kept getting knocked back and using his shield. The Keese were easily dispatched, but all the Messengers kept reviving each other. I refocused my attention on the Dawn messenger approaching me.

I charged at the lumbering white thing, swinging the bat over my head like a wild man. When I got in range, I swung it down on top of the creatures head. It did work, just not how I wanted it to. The creature became dizzy and started wobbling around as it tried to hit me, but kept missing. I looked at the bat and saw that it was bent nearly in half.

_Great, what now!_

The Dawn Messenger shook its head fiercely and rid itself of its confusion. Spotting me it let loose one of those cries that wakes the dead. _Ouch! That thing is loud!_ That done it charged, as well as several other Dawn Messengers and quite a few Dawn Keese. _Oh crap._ I turned and ran as fast as I could. However in seconds flat they'd caught up with me. One of the Keese slammed into my legs and sent my flying forward. I ground to a halt on my back, having somehow flipped over when I was tripped. I watched the closest Messenger, actually Messengers, raise their hands into the air in preparation to squish me.

"FLAREON!"

I was immediately surrounded by a stream of fire. It didn't burn me, but it incinerated the Dawn monsters. When the flames cleared up a small ball of blue light flittered down next to me and landed on my shoulder.

"Hey, why didn't you use that new power you have?"

"What! But! How! Why!"

"Stop arguing and hurry up. Link's not doing so well over there." I looked back to the other battle and saw Link retreating behind a wall of shadow magic that Midna had created. They began to pound on the dome and cracks started forming at the top. "They won't be able to last much longer if you don't hurry up."

A million questions flew through my head, but the most prominent one, the one I mumbled was, "Did you just say Flareon?"

"What?" Shion paused, shocked that I'd ask about that rather than rushing into battle. "Wait… What? Yes, I used the Flareon spell. Now get in there!"_ Flareon… spell? Since when did Pokémon names become attack spells?_

I started running toward the large mass of white that was constantly beating on the black barrier. _Wait, I need to activate the power first. _I stopped, held the Wii-mote in the air, and shouted, "Kurosaki, Ichigo!" And nothing happened. _Why won't anything work for me!_

"What are you doing?" asked Shion.

"I'm trying to activate my power. But… It doesn't seem be working."

"You're not focused. You need to focus entirely on activating the spell before it will work. Think of it as visualizing your goal and then that goal actually happening." I considered the fairies' words and then closed my eyes. _Hey, while I'm doing this, why isn't that lazy Fairy doing anything?_

"Do you think you could cast a few more spells while I'm trying to get this right?" Shion huffed and lifted off from my shoulder.

"I can only cast a few spell before I must rest, so I hope you're prepared for the consequences." Shion flew up next to my ear and said quit loudly, though without shouting, "Means you'll be carrying me for a few days." I jumped, holding my bleeding ears. Shion smirked his… or is it her smirk.

Shion flew off and I closed my eyes again. In my minds eye, I visualized myself. And then I-

"AZUMARILL!" Sounds of massive amounts of water and the cries of many Dawn beasts as they were washed away filled the air. I struggled to keep the image I had in my mind's eye. After a few seconds I tried to add that strange red armor I was wearing in the forest temple. I'd just about gotten it on-

"AMPHAROS!" Massive bolts of electricity hammered down on the Dawn Beasts, throwing many into the air. I felt my feet lift off of the ground several times from the tremors that the spell was creating. I heard many thuds around me as burned, electrified remains of Dawn Beasts hit the ground.

Once more, I tried to visualize myself in the armor. This time I got it, but before I could say the release phrase, Shion landed on my head, hacking and wheezing. I tried to ignore him as I once more tried to build that mental image.

"Never again! I've not used spells in so many years, it's nearly killing me to just use three! Who knew I was so out of shape!" I was almost there. _Just a few more pieces of the armor to go._ "Uh, you can activate it now."

"Just a few more seconds." _Now the arm guards…_

"Uh… they're about to kill us. My spell seems to have attracted half of those things to you. Any time now would be appreciated."

"Hold on!" _Now the sword…_

"Valian!"

"Hold on!" _And finally, the gloves. Done!_

"Valian!!"

"Hold On!" _Okay, now I say the magic words. I-ch-i-go_

"VALIAN!!!"

"HOLD ON!!!!!" _Kur-o-sak-i_

I felt a massive wave of energy wash over me as I opened my eyes to see tens of Dawn beasts being shoved back by the shockwave of my powers' release. _Awesome! _I looked down and replacing the Wii-bat in my hand was the Celestial Tsurugi. _Yes! Now I can kick some ass!_

I raced forward, slashing through the Dawn beasts like they were made of rice paper. I leaped, I kicked, I chopped, I sliced, and I diced. I was like a fighting machine. _This power is awesome. I can totally kick butt like this. But I let the power get to me; I've got to remember that it has a time limit. But still… This is so much fun!_

I raced toward the Twilight Barrier that Midna had erected, crashing through the multitude of Dawn Beasts surrounding the pair. In my wake, all the beast's I hadn't cut through were slowly following in my wake, as if I'd splashed my hand in a pile of mud and the walls of the small mud gash were filling in the hole I'd made.

As I slashed happily away, I managed to look around the small valley that this battle was taking place in and noted that it was completely filled with these white creatures. I looked up and noted with some relief that the Twilight Portal had disappeared. As I came within range of Midna and Link, the barrier finally gave way. Thinking the worst, I leaped as high and as far as I could, flying through the air over the Dawn beasts into the circle that Link and Midna had cleared.

"Yo!" I said as I landed in front of the two. They looked surprised, but not as surprised as they looked the first time they saw me like this. _Damn, why didn't I have a camera with me…_

After snapping out of her short lived stupor, Midna shouted, "Finally! I was wondering if you'd run away like a little mouse."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to take so long. But look," I said as I slashed through ten Dawn beasts at the same time by spinning, "I found Shion!" I stopped slashing long enough to point at the dead to the world, sleeping blue fairy lying in my hair.

"I could leap for joy," Midna said sarcastically and rolled her eyes, then zapped one of the Dawn Beasts with shadow magic. It was repelled as if its body had been ejected from the barrel of a shot gun.

I watched the white creature land some distance away. "Did you see that?"

"Of course I did, dolt, I'm the one who did it." Midna did it again, to several of the creature, sending them flying just as far. "It's quite satisfying."

"No, I mean, did you notice how they were repelled by the black energy. It's almost like it's their opposite. Link!" I spun around and chopped the head off of one of the Dawn Messengers before it could swallow Link's head whole. He had the look of a dear in the head lights. I shook him and spun him around to face me. "Do you think maybe a stronger Shadow Magic could repel them indefinitely? Like the Twilight covered parts of Hyrule?"

Link looked back and forth between me and Midna laughing manically while zapping several of these white creatures and sending them off into the horizon. Finally, what I was trying to say sunk in and he nodded in agreement. We both went back to slashing and chopping, this time, making our way toward the Twilight Barrier just before Kakariko Gorge. Midna slowly floated along behind us, happily zapping any of the Dawn Beasts that got near us from behind.

Finally, as we got onto the main road with hills growing on either side of the road, we broke free of the mass of Dawn Beasts. Making a break for it, we ran as fast as we could down the road. Midna once again happily zapped anything that got close, laughing her head off every time she did it. _I didn't know she was so violent. Then again, maybe it's just so easy for her to do it that she can't help but laugh. I don't think it would be healthy for me to ask her why she's laughing._

Once we reached the wall covered in Gold colored etchings that marked the start of the Twilight Realm, me and Link stopped running and turned around. Midna, pouting, zapped one last monster with a chuckle before she sped on into the Twilight Realm, causing the wall to ripple like a pool of water. Link and I held back the Dawn beasts as they approached us, taking them down in one or two hits.

Link was about to slam his sword down on one of the monsters when a large orange hand extended from the wall, grabbed him and yanked him into the Twilight. That left me alone to deal with these beasts. _She wouldn't leave me here would she! No… She doesn't… she wouldn't… would she?_

I'd just slashed through several more Dawn beasts when my power decided that it was time to go back to wherever it came from. When brought my 'sword' down once more, to slash through another beast, all that came down was my Wii-mote. _Oh, this can't be good._ I looked up in time to see a massive fist flying straight toward my face. Just as the massive appendage hit me in the head, I was yanked violently backwards into and through the wall of Twilight.

* * *

Okay, that's gotten to be long enough. If you liked it, review. Thanks for reading!

* * *

And now it's time for an AD. I promised one for **_ZombieDragon, _**so here goes. 

The lands of Hyrule have been freed from the clutches of the Evil King. Now, in a time of piece an old evil will rear its head again to cause havoc, his dark weapon, the Hero himself.

**_"Ferocious, Fierce, and Free"_**

Read it.


	10. Three Degrees of Seperation

"I do not own the rights to anything that belongs to someone else!" – I.K.A. Valian

* * *

"Speech" 

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

* * *

"So, the child and Hero have escaped into the Twilight?" 

Clarence kneeled before Azela. Her hair blew around wildly behind her in the Twilight Realm's mid-day breeze. She no longer wore the Twilight garb that others here wore. Now she was wearing long dark blue robes with golden tassels hanging off of the end of a slender leather belt around her waist. Her stoic posture mixed with the serene look upon her face to create look that made even Twilight Messengers shy away. Whether it was in fear or disgust of the odd malevolent creature, no one could figure out.

"Yes, my master." Clarence bowed his head and watched his white bangs fall in front of his face. He didn't like this. His master was acting too calmly; she was taking this news of failure too well. This kind of situation usually ended with spilled blood, and it was usually the servants.

"Not that I expected anything less. That boy is an enigma; his abilities grow with every encounter. And the Hero isn't to be underestimated either." Clarence nearly fainted in relief as his master started meandering around the room, swaying her hips exotically while she thought. He wasn't fond of the way she kept everything to herself. It made it hard to carry out her orders. "I've decided!"

"Master?"

"You will go with Dax and Sharon to Zora's Domain. There, you will find the Queen of that race and bring here. She is strong and I must have her power for myself. I will go with some of the others and…" Azela paused, turned toward Clarence, and continued to saucily saunter her way around the room. "I will set a trap for him. I will see for myself this power he's found and I will take it with his life." Azela clenched her fist as she rasped out her final musings. Clarence bowed his head lower in submission, his white bangs falling even further over his face.

"Yes, Master."

* * *

The dusk of twilight had fallen over the village nestled in the foot hills of Death Mountain. The foreboding silence that reigned over the shadowy village was broken only by the ambling of the Twilight Messengers as they moved down the street. They were sent by their master to route out any resistance and generally keep watch over their Lord's domain. 

Then it happened. The sky split open in a jagged gash above the Light Spirit's spring. It slowly spread wider and wider, like two fingers were probing inside a wound and were pulling it open. Light poured forth, pushing the twilight back beyond the edges of the spring as the water refracted the light and repelled the shadows.

The Twilight Messengers reared up, shying away from the new light. They raised their arms to shield their armored heads and they cried out in shock as well as a bit of fear. From that hole in the sky dropped eight figures. Then, just as quickly as it happened, the hole closed up.

When the beast soldiers of the Twilight lowered their ungainly arms, they saw eight oddly dressed men. The clothing they wore was nothing like the Twilight King's minions had ever seen. The eight men wore full body suits that were composed of some kind of black material that held snug against the skin. It even covered their faces and over their eyes they wore a set of goggles that gave off an eerie green glow. Around their waists was some kind of utility belt and clutched in their hands were strange rectangular contraptions that emitted a red beam from the point.

Several of the men pointed the red beams emitters at the Twilight beasts. This spooked them and caused the beasts to run off, something that was not missed by the spirits haunting the inside of Renado's house. They watched the bomb proof beasts scramble through the village and down the path that would eventually take them to Western Hyrule Field.

One of the newcomers tilted his head to the side before he held his hand out. He extended two fingers toward the entrance to Kakariko Gorge and two of the men behind him sprinted down the pathway. He pointed at the other end of the village, in the same direction that the Twilight Messengers scurried, and two men sprinted through the village. He pointed along the tops of the canyon walls and two men took off, climbing as fast as they could up the walls of the canyon.

Then the leader started moving forward with his red beam emitter shouldered and pointed forward. He went up to Renado's house and pulled open the door. As he walked in he pointed the red beam emitter left and right, sweeping the house. Though the house looked empty, except for the few floating balls of spirit fire, the man's headgear revealed that there were in fact people inside of the house, not spirits. Two men, two little girls, and three small boys.

It didn't take long for those inside of the house to comprehend this strange creature with glowing green eyes and a contraption that emitted a red beam at whatever he pointed it at. He could see them. The point was made all the more clear when the man pointed at Barnes' head with his contraption and motioned for him to move. Barnes, his knees shaking, scrambled for the back door like the coward he was. Renado and the kids were quick to follow. The spirits fled into the Kakariko Graveyard, Renado looking back with a disturbed and confused look before he continued.

"Nice going, boss!" Another man walked into Renado's house casually, his rifle casually slung over his shoulder.

"Shut it, Mckinsey. Find out where they went. I don't want to spend more time in this hell hole than I have to. I want to find this anomaly and get the hell out of here."

"Yes sir!" Mckinsey jogged after the spirits, shouldering his riffle as he went.

"Lieutenant Tracey!" The leader of the squad of men spun around, facing the soldier that ran into the house from the village. "Lieutenant Tracey. We've confirmed the location of the target. It's heading in this direction and will arrive in this village within the hour."

"Very good. Set up a perimeter and-"

* * *

When I saw Link being transformed into a wolf for the first time, I wondered what exactly he went through as his entire body transformed. It looked painful. It sounded painful. And now that I'm here and feeling the same thing, I know, it is very painful. 

"Haaahh!" I tried to cry out but the most I could manage through the body wracking pain was a suffocated sigh. When the pain of what felt like being burned away with a thousand blow torches had faded, I collapsed onto the ground. My breathing sounded and felt like rubbing sand paper on a piece of coral under water. But the majority of the pain was gone. _Dear God that hurt._

I grunted as I pushed myself up. _I wonder -Ouch, my arms feel like they're not there- what I transformed into. I don't feel like a floating spirit. And I can't be a wolf because I don't have a piece of the Triforce and I really don't feel wolf like. What is wrong with my arms!?_

I kept trying to push myself up, but I didn't get anyway. When I opened my clenched eyes to look down, I saw why my arms weren't doing what I wanted them to; they were near-see through and were currently buried in the ground as my arms passed through the dirt. It took five seconds for what I was seeing to click with the rest of my mind.

"Ahhh!"

"Feh! Took you long enough to wake up." I twisted my neck to look up at Midna floating impatiently above me. "How can you sleep in perfect weather like this?" After looking about at the dreary and nearly dark conditions, I gave Midna a screwed up face. _How can she think this is good weather? It looks like the world died and the entire place feels like a graveyard, which is fitting considering what I've turned into._ "Why do you dawdle? Get up already, we don't have time to waste waiting for you."

Sighing exasperatedly, I shouted, "I've turned into a ghost! I'm a freaking Imp Poe!" Midna however was unfazed. I tried to push myself up again, but only succeeded in writhing about on the ground. Link, who was in his wolf form, was standing a bit farther down the pathway. He was sniffing a broken stick that was lying on the ground.

"What has your current state of being got to do with anything? Now, be a good boy and get up. You will be useful should I need you." Midna giggled and floated over to Link before she dropped down onto his back, making him yelp and growl in surprise.

_I'll get up just as soon as I figure out how to not make my arms and legs sink through the ground. _I tried pushing on the ground again, but still, I got no traction. In fact, I sank even deeper into the ground. _This really sucks!_ Midna growled impatiently. "You really are a stupid one, aren't you? Focus your mind and push yourself up into the air! Idiot!"

_She could have told me that sooner! And she could have been nicer about it! Arrg!_ I sighed as I let that anger go. _It's not worth it. She's just-_

"Hurry up, idiot," Midna sing-songed, "or you'll be left behind…"

_She's just asking for it, that's what she's doing! Damn! And I thought Shion was bad… Shion!_ I looked around me as best I could and then spotted a purple-red glow coming from inside of the lantern attached to the bottom of my body. _I've got no legs! Oh man! This new form really sucks. At least I found the annoying fairy. Sure, he's happily sleeping in that lantern thing where my freaking legs should be._

Midna cleared her throat. I looked over at her sitting on Link's back and she looked back at me with her arms crossed and her one eye twitching every now and then. _She needs to take it easy. _I sighed again. _Fine, fine, I'll try it your way. Man, she's got to be bipolar or something. Alright, calm the mind and push up into the air._ After concentrating for several seconds and making my ethereal head hurt, I opened my eyes to find myself floating in the air.

_I… I'm floating. I'm flying! Weeeeee! _I laughed internally at my mental ramblings and my own giddy silliness. _I've always wanted to fly! Now… how do I move while floating?_ I looked up and watched Link carrying Midna away as he ran down the pathway. "Wait! How do I move?" I hovered in mid air for several seconds before I got my answer.

"Idiot," she sing-songed, "we're leaving…"

_Alright, it's official. Midna is a horrible teacher! Thank God I'll never have to learn anything from her!_ I closed my eyes and concentrated again. I kept thinking '_Move forward! Move forward!_' over and over again. I peeked through one of my eyes to see myself slowly moving forward, but not fast enough. _Move faster! Move faster!_ This time I felt my ethereal body shift into high gear as I shot forward out of my position like a bat out of hell, which might not be that uncommon here in the Twilight.

I quickly caught up to Link and Midna sitting in front of the missing bridge that connects the two sides of the Kakariko Gorge. However, there was something different about this situation than there was before. The bridge wasn't just missing, but the gorge was much wider. There were some more rocks jutting up from the dark depths as well.

_Oh crap, I'm about to fly past them. Stop! Stop! Stop! _ I concentrated on stopping and slowly grounded to a halt next to Link and Midna on the edge of the now much wider gorge. Moving around in this place was a lot harder than it was outside. It was like moving through molasses that had the viscosity of tar.

Looking over the much larger pit, I offered up my well thought out and scientific opinion, "Well that's not good."

"You catch on quickly for an idiot," Midna jibbed. "I wonder if this is the work of those shadow creatures… Ugh... What a pain!"

"Wow, Midna, did you figure that out all on your own?" _I should not have said that…_

I was slammed into the ground before I'd even finished my last thought. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt. _Maybe being dead is a good thing after all. _Then after I though about it for a few seconds and watched my whole body drift into and out of the top soil, I concluded that, _No, I was right, this sucks._

"If you've not anything particularly useful to inform me of, don't speak!" With a satisfied glint in her eye and a disgruntled smirk on her face she leaped back onto Link's back. He certainly didn't appear to enjoy when she did that, at least, not as much as she did. "Ah well… Let's go look for it. You!" Midna pointed at Link. He turned his doggie head toward the errant imp floating above him and tilted it to the side. "Get out your map!"

_A map? How is Link carrying a… map…_ I watched as Link leaned over to the side and started scratching his shaggy mane, causing a paper scroll popped out onto the ground. _How in the hell… What just happened!? How is that even possible?_

Using his nose, Link unrolled the paper until a map of Hyrule, at least the parts he'd explored, appeared. I floated over to look down at the map while Midna explained to Link what each of the glowing symbols meant as they appeared on the map. I just ignored her because I already knew what they meant. The paper looked old, but it exuded something that made it look like it was glowing. _That's gotta be the magic. I can see magic then, cool! I guess there are some benefits to being a wandering spirit, though not many._

"It appears that they left the warp portal open. How nice of them…" Midna floated in a little circle while thinking. While she mused, I looked up into the sky and saw the swirling mass of Twilight energy. _This place is far too dreary. It looks like the inside of some kind of depressed suicidal person's mind. I miss the sunlight. I miss home. Worst of all, I'm bored._ I looked over at the confused duo. _I guess I'll help them out. After all, if this were still a game I'd be figuring it out anyway. Heh… if this were still a game. Was it ever a game?_

"Since the bridge is gone and you guys are about to go look for it, I'm going to go ahead and make sure the kids are alright." Midna and Link turned to me with suspicious looks. _Not this again…_ "The missing bridge should be in North Faron Woods. Midna, you and Link can warp there and then bring the bridge back. In the mean time, I'll float over there and check out the village. That way when you get back, I can let you know if there's an army waiting to grind your bones to dust and all that jazz. Besides, I'm tired of waiting around here and I'm sure I'd just slow you two down with the searching."

After taking a moment to think it over, Midna nodded. She went over to Link and pointed at him. He suddenly exploded in a multitude of little black squares that was then sucked up into the Warp Portal above. Before Midna went herself, she turned to me. "I hope you're right about this. I don't appreciate being led on wild cucco chase."

"You're the one who said not to speak unless I had something useful to say." Midna clenched her hand and was about to replay but I went on. "Besides, if the bridge isn't there, then it's been moved by the witch. If that is the case, then even I wouldn't know where it is and you'd end up looking for it anyway." Midna eyed me carefully. I shrugged. _It's not my choice if she believes me or not, but I had hoped by now that she would. _"Good luck." Midna snorted and then warped herself, stretching out until she disappeared completely.

I shrugged and looked around, realizing what I'd actually volunteered for. _Uhh… oops. _I was completely alone. _I guess I'll just do what I said I was going to do. But next time I won't suggest going off on my own. Who know what'd happen if the witch showed up now… Alright then, move forward! Move forward!_

I slowly made my way over the enlarged gorged. Once on the other side, I followed the dirt path toward the large ad hoc gate that the Twilight Bulblins had put together. I hovered next to the ground as I approached the gate. I stuck my head over the edge of the gate and looked to see what was waiting on the other side. Two Twilight Bulblins stood side by side, guarding the entrance to the canyon that held Kakariko Village.

_Okay, these two don't look too smart. Actually they look like they'd lose a spelling bee to a wooden post. It should be easy to distract them so I can sneak by. But what do I use…_ I looked around for anything that I could use to distract them, but the only thing I could find were two twigs and a glowing bug. _Great… I guess I'll just have to take them out._ I floated up and over the gate, brandishing my scythe, hopefully in a menacing way. I stopped right in front of the two guards and waited for them to make the first move.

The two Bulblins looked at each other and then at me. One of them scratched its head and the other folded its arms. I just stared at them, waiting for one of them to make the first move so I could react and go ape on them. _What are they waiting for?_

"What a_rrrrr_e you d_ooooo_ing?" the Bulblin to my right squeaked in its scratchy high pitched voice. I blinked. _It talked to me. Why aren't they attacking me?_

"A_rrrr_en't you su_ppppp_o_sssss_ed to be on Death Mou_nnnn_tain?" It took me a few seconds to put two and two together. _They think I'm one of their own Poes… Maybe I can take advantage of this._

After clearing my throat I responded in a gravely voice that I imagined an Imp Poe having. "I'm going there, yes. I'm supposed to relieve the… uh… other guy. He hasn't been meeting his… um… soul quota, yeah, and the master wants me to pick up the slack." I looked back and forth at the two Bulblins as the thought it over.

"C_oooo_me to th_iii_nk of it, that l_aaaaa_zy Poe has b_eee_n shirking his d_uuuu_ties lately" the Bulblin on my right said to the other.

"_Aaaaa_nd **_we've_** had to p_iiiii_ck up the sl_aaaa_ck," the other Bulblin said back. Then he turned to me and grunted his approval. "G_oooo_ give that b_uuuuu_m a Dark W_ooo_rld of pa_iiiii_n!" _Hahahaha! That was too easy!_ I nodded and saluted with my scythe as I floated past the two Bulblins into the canyon.

"St_oooo_p!" I froze. _Could they be onto me? _"D_ooo_n't go thr_oooo_ugh the village. Str_aaaa_nge creatures are there. Safe_rrrrr_ to g_ooooo_ around." _Strange… creatures. They can't mean the Twilight Messengers, they're on the same team. Who could make the Twilight creatures retreat?_ I continued on anyway, intent on seeing these strange creatures for myself.

"He's cr_aaaaa_zy," said the first Bulblin.

"I've seen w_oooooo_den posts with more b_rrrrr_ain_sssss_," said the other.

* * *

Link materialized in the clearing just outside of the Forest Temple. Midna failed to appear so he started looking around on his own. She'd be along shortly. He sniffed at the ground, smelling a variety of things. He smelled Bulblins, other dogs, people, birds, horses, and a host of other such things that a dog's nose can differentiate between without much effort. What stuck out the most was the scent of Twilight magic and Bulblins. It led up to a wall of trees where a depression had formed in the ground. 

As Link sniffed around the depression, he caught the distinct smell of the same Bullbo that carried the Bulblin leader. The same one who kidnapped Illia! Now completely absorbed in his sniffing, Link failed to notice the two Twilight Messengers that appeared in the same clearing. It was when he caught the scent of the wooden bridge that used to rest in the depression that Link was grabbed by the massive hand of one of the Messengers and thrown across the clearing.

After rolling to a stop, Link sprang up, adrenalin coursing through his veins. Damnit, where was Midna when he needed her. He snarled and leaped at the nearest Twilight beast. It was a tumultuous battle. Fur and Twilight flesh flew. When it was all done, when the carnage was finished, Link stood on three legs in the middle of a bloodied clearing, holding his fourth leg up off of the ground.

The Twilight Messengers' remains exploded in a cloud of black squares that were absorbed back into the portal above. Link limped out of the clearing toward the small shop run by that bird. When he reached the entrance, the bird squawked loudly before flying off, screeching about crazed wolves and not being paid enough.

Link hopped up as best he could to the edge of the large pot containing the red potion and started lapping at the foul tasting fluid. After drinking as much as his stomach could handle without heaving, Link hopped down, immediately feeling the effects of the magical fluid throughout his body. By the time he'd hobbled back into the clearing he was completely healed.

Link went back to sniffing the small depression and found that the scent of the bridge was still there. If he used all of his senses at once, Link found that the scent created a pathway in the direction of Hyrule field. Suddenly, several more Twilight Messengers accompanied by a few Keese appeared from the Warp swirling slowly above. Springing into action, Link fled from the monsters chasing him and simultaneously followed the trail into the miasmatic bog between the temple and the rest of the forest.

* * *

"This is not North Faron woods." Midna crossed her arms in annoyance as she floated above the throne of the Zora. Below her all of the Zora that should have been running and swimming about were trapped within a frozen pool of water. "I do not like this one bit. When I get back, I'm going to skin Valian. I wonder why the Portal transported me here though… Perhaps this witch that Valian spoke of, the one that was watching us in the Forest Temple, is to blame. No matter, I'll just transport back and try again." 

Midna closed her eyes and continued to float above the frozen pool of Zora soup. After several seconds of commanding the magic to work and listening to the whisperings of the power reject her orders, Midna started to growl. "What is going on? Warp me, now! I command you to work correctly!" Why was her Magic not working? After listening to the power's whisperings for a few more minutes, Midna shouted, "What do you mean the way is closed?! The way cannot be closed, that is impossible. I demand you open the way and let me pass now!"

After attempting for several minutes to fruitlessly warp, Midna gave up with a huff. Sulking, she flew over to the throne and sat down on it. If the magic didn't want to work, she'd have to either wait till it did or fly back on her own, which would take too long, several days at most. Basically, it meant she was stuck in this frozen domain until she figured out what was wrong with the magic.

"I see that you are stuck here." Midna was unfazed when the specter of the late Zora Queen materialized in front of her. She'd sensed her presence when she first appeared here and decided to ignore her. Now, as the Zora Queen had so eloquently put, she was stuck here.

"So it seems." Midna wasn't one who enjoyed sitting idly around. "Tell me, do you know what could be interfering with the flow of magic around here?"

"My knowledge of the magic around my kingdom was great when I was alive. But since my death, I've lost contact with magic. I know nothing of what has changed except that Twilight has fallen over my domain. I am sorry."

Midna waved it off nonchalantly as she slung her legs across the arm rest on one side of the throne and leaned her helmet covered head on the other. How she hated this body. How she hated Zant, that thieving king. She didn't have time for sympathy; she needed to figure it out as soon as possible so she could get back to collecting the Fused Shadows.

As impatient as Midna was, she was easily showing how good at masking her emotions she truly was. While thinking over the multitude of things that could have gone wrong she began to doze off. She'd just about fallen asleep when there was a loud noise from the frozen hallway that lead to the rest of Zora's domain. Midna sat up and stared like a wild animal that knew it was being stalked into the shadowed cavernous entrance.

"Clink!"

"_There it is again."_ Midna leapt into the air and floated halfway into the throne room, directly above the center of the ice pit. Few things made Midna twitch in anxiety anymore, as she was now. Most of the anxiety had been blown violently out of her when Zant had taken over. There were only two things that still had that kind of power. One was fighting, which could be passed off as the thrill of battle. The other was being hunted.

Midna turned to the Zora Matron. "I suggest you hide yourself. Not many people come to a grave such as this place has become to look for the living." The Queen's specter nodded before vanishing into the Twilight. Midna clucked her tongue behind her teeth; things weren't going according to plan.

The noises gradually became louder as whoever it was made their way into the deepest parts of Zora's domain. From the sounds that they were making, there were possibly two or three of them. And the clinking denoted that at least one of them wore some form of metallic armor.

* * *

_Those two Bulblins were right. There were strange creatures in the village. At least, they'd seem strange to people who'd never seen or played Ghost Recon before. Thank heavens for all those years of what I thought was wasted youth._

I'd slowly made my way through the village. These soldiers had apparently made their base within Renado's house. Not only that, but the entire village was deserted, except for the soldiers. It took some getting used to, but I was able to slip by them by fading into and out of the canyon walls. The first time had made my stomach, or whatever I now have, do something like the Tango. Rose in teeth and everything.

By the time I'd finished scouting out the village, there was only one place I hadn't checked yet, the cemetery. I left Barnes' bomb storehouse and made my way toward the wall. I had to dive into the ground when one of the soldiers appeared and started scanning the area. Luckily he didn't see me.

I made my way to the graveyard, diving into bushes and abandoned houses. I even absorbed myself into a sign post, which might not have been a good idea because one of the soldiers decided to kick said sign post over. After finally making it to the graveyard entrance, I breathed a sigh of relief. _Who knew all this cloak and dagger stuff was so exhausting in real life. I may be a ghost but that doesn't mean I'm naturally good at this stuff._

I entered the graveyard. _There' doesn't seem to be anyone here…_

"Get back! Creepy ghost, get back in your grave!" I suddenly felt a stick crash into and pass through my head and body, leaving a cold, tingly trail behind hit as it went. I turned around and came face to face with the ghostly form of Talo as he slashed and sliced me with his stick. I stood there, or rather, floated there for several minutes letting him do as he pleased. He sliced through my head, cut through my arms, diced through my fingers, and poked through my eyes. But nothing worked. "Arrg! Why won't anything kill you?!"

"Maybe it's because you're using as stick," I said flatly. Talo growled and squeezed the stick in his small grasp tighter. Then he went wild, swinging away with the stick until he sat on the ground exhausted. "You know, if you used your head, you wouldn't have wasted all your energy trying to hit me with a stick that goes right through me."

"Grrr! I'll get you, you stupid ghost!" Talo stood up weakly and started to slash at me again with the stick.

"Ugh! This is getting old." I held out my hand and the scythe that I'd learned to make disappear, reappeared. When Talo brought the stick down and through me once more, I quickly sliced and chopped it in half, making a neat and tidy thunk sound. "There, no more stick."

Talo looked at the stick that was left in his hands before he ran away screaming. "Waaaaaaa!" He ran all the way to the back of the graveyard, up the stairs, and to the back of the upper level. _Well… maybe chopping it in half was a little extreme._

I slowly followed in Talo's footsteps and when I reached the top of the set of stairs I found the rest of the wayward Kakariko refugees. Renado was sitting cross-legged with his back straight and his hand resting in his lap forming a small circle. The kids, Luda, Colin, Beth, Talo, and Malo were huddled behind Renado's broad back. And Barnes was trying to hide behind the kids but kept looking over everyone's shoulders to shiver in fright at the sight of me. Also, there was a distinct green wall of filmy energy that shimmered between me and the others.

_I never saw that in the game. I wonder what's going on._ I floated next to the wall of energy and tapped it. The wall stuck to my finger and when I pulled my finger back the energy pulled back with it until it snapped back and caused several rings of waves to spread across its surface. _That's kinda cool._

"Is it gonna get through?" I looked at Talo as he huddled next to Beth and Colin. He was clearly frightened. _Hehehe… maybe I should give them a little scare… eh, maybe not, they've been through a lot._

"Fear not child," Renado said, though he kept his eyes closed. "Evil creatures are unable to penetrate this barrier."

"Hey, Renado, if that's true, then why did that one just come through," Barnes screamed shrilly and pointed at me. I'd just pushed my way through the strange greenish barrier. It felt like sticking my head through a rubber wall, but I made it through none the less. The looks of concern I was getting, as well as the teary, terrified eyes, made me feel that by going through the wall I'd broken a law of physics and crossed the barrier from nightmare to reality at the same time.

"Uh… hello." I waved. They all stared at me, unmoving. "I take it you've never seen a nice ghost before?"

"I take it you must be a _nice_ ghost then?" I nodded to Barnes' question.

"Yep, sure am. I am traveling with Link after all."

"You know Link?!" shouted Talo, Beth, and Colin at the same time.

"If he said he knows Link and he was able to pass through the barrier then that mean he isn't a bad ghost," Malo said under his breath.

"I see," said Renado slowly, opening his eyes. "You know the one these children speak of with such admiration." I nodded. "That is good. How then did you take the form of a Poe?"

"That isn't as easy to answer. Hmm…" _How do I tell them without revealing too much? Maybe I should go with that oracle thing again… no, who would believe in a dead oracle. I'll just say I'm cursed._ "I'm cursed. Link's been cursed too, but he's out there right now finding the way to break that curse. When you get to see him next, he'll be back to his normal self, and hopefully I will be too. Right now, I just came to see how you were doing and to scout out the village before he got here. It looks pretty bad in there." I motioned back toward the village.

"Yes, our village was attacked by the shadows at first. And most recently, these strange man-like creatures with glowing green eyes took over the village."

"And they had these strange boxes that they held in their arms that made some kind of red light shoot out," Talo added excitedly.

"Yeah, I noticed that. Well, at least you're all safe in the mean time. I'm not due to hook back up with Link for a little bit, do you mind if I stay here for a while?" I watched Renado think it over. Barnes didn't look like he trusted me too much. The kids looked guardedly enthusiastic about my idea.

"I haven't any qualms if you stay here. I just hope you've been sincere." I nodded and floated down to the ground. _I guess with the way things are, every one is on edge and doesn't' want to trust anyone too easily. How can I blame them being surrounded by Twilight? I wonder how that search for the bridge is going._

* * *

Well, that was fun. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Please Review, if you do, you get a Zelda shaped cookie... 

Thanks for reading!_  
_


	11. Interdimensional Witch Hunter Captured!

"I do not own the rights to anything that belongs to someone else!" – I.K.A. Valian

* * *

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

* * *

"It has been three days and yet there has been no sign of this person you call Link."

"Renado." The tall village shaman glanced down at the young Talo sitting on the ground and arched an eye brow in curiosity. "Link has never failed. If Valian says he's coming, then he's coming." Talo, sitting on the ground in the lonesome graveyard, hugged his knees. "I just wish he would come sooner."

"Come on," said Colin encouragingly, "This is Link we're talking about."

"Link has always been the hardest worker in Ordon Village," muttered Malo dryly.

I glanced at the others from my watch position. I was floating above the group keeping watch. I'd discovered, over the past three uneventful days, that I couldn't go to sleep, not that I got tired either. _I wonder if I'll be tired when I'm human again… _The others and I agreed that since I was never tired or in need of sleep, that I would keep watch for them while they rested and kept up their own strength. _I can't imagine it's easy being a spirit in this place._

"Hey, Valian!" I looked down at the diminutive Malo.

"Yeah, what?" The small boy motioned for me to come down. Curious, as these past three days were the most boring 72 hours I could remember, I floated down lower until I was floating at my normal human height, something I'd found that happened normally. "What's up," I asked.

"The others won't ask because they are too afraid to ask. Unlike them, I don't really give a hoot."

"That's… very commendable of you Malo… though you don't get many brownie points for empathy."

"We were wondering where you came from. Up until now we'd just assumed you'd come from Castle Town or some other such place. However, we don't really know for sure. So, where are you from?"

"I… Uh…" _What do I tell them? Eh… I went with a lie about being an Oracle, and that came back to bite me in the behind by giving me a trip to the Afterlife. Maybe I should just tell them the truth…_ "I'm an inter-dimensional Witch Hunter!" _Oh yeah, way to go for the truth! I'll make it up next time._

"A what!?" they all said in unison.

"I am Valian, Inter-dimensional Witch hunter. I cross planes in search of the malevolent force known as the Twilight Witch," I said dramatically.

All of the kid's and Barnes' eyes got as big as saucers. "Wow, cool!" they all said. Renado wasn't that impressed though, he seemed to be more skeptical.

"Then tell us, oh famous one, what brought you to this land in search of your Witch?" I could tell Renado wasn't playing around. He was testing me to see if I was telling the truth, and if I was, then there was more reason to fear than to be wowed.

"It might take a bit, so find a seat." The five children: Malo, Talo, Beth, Colin, and Luda; all of them scrambled for a spot around me, staring up at me like I really was some kind of super hero. Unfortunately, I let it go to my head.

* * *

Link had been running for hours. The Twilight beasts weren't far behind, even though he'd sent them on a wild goose chase through the miasma fog, over a cliff, and through a river. Nothing he did to deter them ever seemed to work longer than Twenty minutes. Fortunately, the time he had gotten was enough for him to continue his search for the missing bridge.

The cloud of brown scent molecules was stronger than ever, leading him out of Faron Woods and into South Hyrule Field, the same field that he had encountered the strangely Twilight like Dawn Beasts. At the moment of his arrival onto this portion of Hyrule Field though, there was no sign of those disturbingly unnatural beasts.

Then he found it. That was it. The bridge was sticking out of a tuft of trees on top of a steep hill in the middle of the open grassy plain. Link would have laughed cynically if he could have.

Behind him, he could hear the oncoming sounds of the Twilight creatures. They couldn't be more than thirty minutes away, a fact which his dog enhanced hearing made abundantly clear. Link looked back and forth between the piece of bridge sticking upright out of the ground and the sounds he was hearing coming from Faron Woods.

He had to protect the bridge from the Twilight creatures. He also had to wait for Midna to show up so that they could warp out of here. Not to mention that it had been three days since he began attempting to get those creatures off his tail. He was completely out of energy, but he kept going. He had to. His of sense of right, wrong, and everything he'd been through so far wouldn't let him quit after coming this far. Thus, with twenty eight minutes and forty-seven seconds left before the Twilight beasts arrived, Link got to work preparing for their onslaught. He began doing what all dogs do exceptionally well at, digging.

* * *

"-and that is how I came to be here." The group of children, and Barnes, started clapping, while Renado just glared. He knew I wasn't telling the whole truth. _I should make it a point to tell him the rest later. _"Does that answer you question Malo?"

"Actually, no," he said stoically. "I wanted to know where you are from, not why you are here."

"Oh, well I'm from a planet called Earth."

"Oh, okay." Apparently satisfied by my simple answer, the smallest one waddled off and sat down against the wall of the canyon.

"That was such a cool story! I wish I could be a Witch Hunter!" Talo jumped side to side, pointing his finger and making 'pew, pew' sounds.

"It sounds so romantic!" Beth swooned at the thought.

"Yeah," Luda agreed dreamily.

I shook my ethereal head and sighed. _I better go see if those two got the bridge back. They've definitely had more than enough time by now. I just hope they didn't run into any trouble along the way._ "I am going to see if they arrived yet. You guy's wait here, I'll be back soon."

"We shall not fall to harm, young one." I nodded at Renado, who like everyone else her, didn't really trust me. _But that doesn't mean I can't trust him… I hope._

I floated out of the graveyard and stopped just behind Renado's old house. _I wonder if those military creeps have left yet…_ Just then one of the soldiers, the one I'd named Shorty because he was shorter than the rest of them, walked past my position, following his patrol route. _I guess not. I'll take the scenic route today._

I made my way through the slightly stuffy Twilight air around Renado's house toward the Kakariko Spring. The Twilight was just as depressing now as it was three days ago when I was first violently pulled into this place. It was a bit difficult to get over, the constant grey, the constant shadows, but after day two, it stopped bothering me as much. _I guess I'm a bit quieter now than I used to be, maybe I'm depressed or something._

The spring water, no longer making their customary trickling noises here in the Twilight, still managed to sooth my mind. I glided over the surface of the spring and then up into the back of the spring where a deep hole and the source of the spring's water was. It was there I made my first mistake. I ran my fingers in the water.

Suddenly alarms and other loud noises were going off and a large white spot light was pointed right at me from somewhere above on the rim of the canyon. I was so startled, that I let out a shriek and flew backwards for several feet, phasing into one of the stone pillars that guarded the spring. In the spot I'd been floating a large metal cage fell down and into the water.

"Damn! Almost had 'im!" shouted one of the soldiers. _He's right, they almost got me with that one. Looks like they didn't learn their lesson the last time. Well… crap, they know about this way now._

"Heh, what did I tell ya, that little bugger's been sneakin past us by going 'round ours sensers." The one speaking appeared from the cave I'd intended to exit the town through. "Alright guys, we now know he can evade us if he wants. It's time to take it up a notch."

"Affirm!" shouted several of the men, coming out of their hiding spots.

_Okay then, time to get out of here._ I slipped from the stone I was hiding in down further into the ground. Then I floated out of the town and into Kakariko gorge. And, as all three days before, no bridge, Link, or Midna. _Where could they be?_

I was about to leave when I smelled something funny. It smelled a lot like ozone, which would have been okay. The only problem I had with it was that I only smelled that coming from electronics. _Electronics… but Hyrule isn't supposed to have electronics._ I followed the scent as best I could, Imp Poes don't have a sense of smell worth speaking of, and found myself staring at the wall of the gorge. It was the same rocky wall I'd seen over the past three days. _Huh, that's weird._

I shrugged and made my way back to the others. I found them in the same position that I'd left them in, except that Talo was now sleeping and the girls were falling asleep. Colin was at the edge of the upper ledge, watching for any sign of the military guys. Or Link. He looked down in disappointment when I shook my head.

"Well, it looks like we have to wait a little bit longer."

"You don't think… you know, that Link was…"

"No," both I and Colin shouted at the same time. I glanced down at him. He was staring heatedly at Barnes.

"No," I repeated a bit more softly. "Link is the kind of person who thinks on his feet, never gives up, and will fight, literally, to the death for what he has to do, weather it is fighting for good, or saving someone's life."

"Yeah," agreed Colin.

"You hold this Link in pretty high regard, having only known him for a few days." I nodded. _That is true, but I've known Link since I played my first Zelda game._

"It is true that I've only known this Link for a short time, but that doesn't matter. I fought in the forest temple with him. I may not know him that well, but he is all those things I said, and most likely, more."

"I see." The look on Renado's face said that he believed me, but he also looked like he was holding back something. _Did I say too much?_ Renado let whatever his concerns were go for the moment when he turned to Barnes, who was looking down in distraught of their constantly horrible predicament. "Barnes, I believe this one. This Link has got to be if he has inspired such courage in a child." Then Renado turned and looked at Colin. "Isn't that correct, Colin?"

"I… I uh… guess so." Colin fidgeted under the scrutiny of the two adults. I just chuckled to myself. I floated back to the mouth of the canyon that stretched between the graveyard and the rest of the village. I was slowly dozing, as that is the only thing I can do with eye lids that I can see through, when the lantern attached to me started shaking of its own accord.

"What the… where am I!?" I looked down in shock as the purple-red glow of Shion shot out of the Lantern attached to my feet and started flying about. "What was I doing in an Imp Poe's Lantern? What happened to…?"

"Shion."

"Oh no, I'm dead. That's it. I've finally died and gone to Hell."

"Shion!"

"So this is what it's like. Hmm… it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Must have been all those tree's I saved from woodsmen."

"Shion!!" The fairy stopped in mid-air and stared at me. What was kind of creepy was that I could see his normally invisible self and it looked, I kid you not, exactly like Elvis Presley in his white outfit.

"How do you know my name?!" Shion shouted in dramatic shock. "Are you the denizen of Hell assigned to take me in unbreakable adamantite chains to the deepest darkest depths of the abyss where I will be tortured for years infinitum till the end of the universe?"

I stared, open mouthed at Shion. "What the… Where the heck did you get all of that from?"

"Because if you are, I won't go down without a fight!" Shion shouted defiantly. "Prepare yourself denizen of the underworld!" Shion flew at me, melodramatically screaming his (_Or is it her_) lungs out. I sighed and caught the transformed, king of rock and roll, fairy in my ethereal hand, slightly surprised that it caught something without letting it slip through.

"Shion, if you don't calm you annoying fey ass down this instant, I'll stick you back in the lantern." The small fairy in my hands kept fighting to free himself from my near see through hands, completely ignoring me and what I said. _Maybe he just needs to have this all explained to him._

"Shion, stop fighting me. It's me, Valian!"

"Don't be daft! Valian is a human, you're nothing like him, you freak of nature."

"Well we took a little trip into the Twilight Realm. I turned into this and you turned into… some kind of Elvis look alike."

"What is an Elvis, and why should I believe you." By now, the Fey had clamed down enough for me to let him go. He moved beyond my reach and stayed there while I explained everything that had happened between the time he collapsed and now. He took it pretty good.

"NOOO!!!"

While Shion moped about being stuck in the Twilight, I noticed something was wrong. The stuffy-ness that pervaded the Twilight air was dissipating. I glanced back at the others and did a double take. The greenish shield was slowly dissolving. Whatever was happening was affecting the magic that fed the shield.

"Shion… what could cause Magic to dissipated?" Shion stopped moping for several seconds to think about it.

"Well, it could be anything from a spell gathering energy to work to electronics."

"Electronics!?"

"Yeah, why, it's not like the Hylian's have developed anything nearly that advanced anyway."

"I thought I smelled some ozone before, it smelled like something electronics would give off."

"Well, that is curious. But your average trinket wouldn't have a large enough draw to affect too much, so you shouldn't worry."

"Shion, are you telling me that you can't sense the magic, or stuffy-ness, or whatever it is, dissipating?"

"Oh… so that's what this stuff is. I thought it was just humidity."

"I though so too, but now I'm not so sure. Look…" I pointed at the green shield around the others as it flickered in and out of existence. "Renado told me that shield was drawing magic from the very air around it. If this humidity is actually the Twilight's version of Magic, and that shield that was going at full power moments ago and now is dying as the humidity is dissipating, doesn't that indicate that the magic is being pulled out of the air?"

"Yeah… I suppose so." I was about to go on, but the post Shion was making made me lose my train of thought. He looked so much like Elvis, it was freaking me out. "Hey, you awake in there?"

"Oh.. Um, yeah. Okay, back to the problem. Do you think it could be those electronics I smelled before that is causing this?"

"Sure, if it was a large enough apparatus. Wait a minute… how do you know about electronics. These people are too simple to know anything about circuits and the like yet. Who exactly are you."

"Shion, this is hardly the time to be worrying about that. We've got to go find out if that thing I smelled is stopping the magic from working right."

"Because if it is, then Link and Midna won't be able to warp back with the bridge and then Evil wins. And then I don't get to go home."

"Okay… fine, but you're the one who's going to do all the work."

"As if you would have done any work in the first place..." The two of us sped out of the graveyard. As soon as we entered into the town though, a metal cage fell down, trapping us inside. "What the- Hey, let us out!" I grabbed on to the bars and immediately got electrical shocked. I tried to phase through the bars, and still they electrocuted me.

"Finely caught ya, ya lil bugger. Time ta bring ya home fer good." I stared up at the soldier staring down at me. His night vision goggles that allowed him to see in this perpetual Twilight glowed a creepy green color. "My, ya'ra creepy one, ain't ya. Lieutenant Tracey! I cot the lil bugger!" _I'm creepy, you're the one who can't speak properly._

"Good going Max!" shouted a voice from on top of Renado's home. "Secure the creature in the courtyard until we are prepared for a dimensional shift."

"Yeah, sir!"

"Stop!" I shouted, "You have to let me go."

"Heh, yeah," Max said, lifting the cage and carrying it into the center of the village. "Keep screechin like tha, I'm sure 'ey'll put ya in tha Zoo when we get back. An it ain't a nice Zoo neither. Stupid ghost, couldn' evade us fer long, could ya."

"Feh, you half grown hillbilly genetic freak. I'm gonna rip you a new one when I get out of here!"

"It's no use, Valian. They can't hear you. The only thing they understand is each other." I stared at Shion as he floated sadly, looking like Elvis badly wanting a pair of blue suede shoes. He slumped onto my see-though shoulder and sighed. "They won't ever be able to understand you."

"Great. Just when I was about to prove I could actually do all this hero stuff… How are we gonna get out of this?"

* * *

Midna was getting desperate. She'd evaded those two servants of the Witch easily enough so far. But they were catching onto her strategy and it wouldn't hold up much longer. Every time they approached her hiding spot, she used the shadows to slide across the room to a new position. The former Zora Queen had heeded Midna's council and removed her presence from the room.

Midna would have preferred if she had been taken along as well, but she supposed, that would require her to give up the mortal coil, which she required still yet. No, she must find her own way around these hooligans and-

Just then the one that lead this three man group started emitting a light so bright and powerful that it literally pushed back the Veil of Twilight. Luckily, the shadow Midna had been hiding in was also in the same spot that the shadow of one of the pillars created. She counted her blessings as she slunk down the pillar and then along the base of the wall in the shadows.

"_Damn it,_" she thought to herself as she moved closer and closer to the end of the side hallway. "_Work! Stupid Warp Magic!_"

Just as she arrived at the end of the short side tunnel, one of the servants, a woman, rounded the corner. Midna held her breathe. She didn't appear to be looking in the shadows for her. Instead she was looking for something else. That of course, didn't stop her heart from beating so loud that she thought it would alert this girl to her presence.

"Hey, boss, I don't know where that spirit is, but I can't see her. Maybe the light's not in the right frequency."

"No, this is the right frequency. Keep looking, she's here alright, I can sense a strong presence here that is powerful in Magic." The woman didn't respond, she just went back to looking. Midna slowly let out her breathe and tried to calm her self down. She knew now who they were looking for, since her own presence was the only one in the room besides their own.

Seeing that her chance had come to exit, she moved to slide along the ground in a shadow, but the moment she stuck her arm out it materialized. She quickly pulled it back like a bee had stung it and waited for the alarm to be raised. After several minutes of waiting, Midna realized, accompanied by a great swell of relief, that they hadn't actually seen her.

She, however, wasn't one who depended on luck. She liked to know she was going to win, or she wouldn't play at all. She needed a way to get out of this room without being noticed. If only the warp was working. Now she had to find a way to slide into one of these people's shadows without them noticing or realizing until it was too late. Easier said than done. But being the stubborn Twili that she was, it was most likely going to be done.

Midna grinned maliciously as she thought up a plan of evading and escaping these fiends who claimed loyalty to the witch. It was going to be… so much fun!

* * *

Thanks for reading. Please review. Oh, and I would also like to tell you that if you like this story, you'll like my other stories... so check them out. And, if you want, check out some of the stories I have linked to as Favorites, they're good too.

Hope you enjoyed it. Oh, and reviewers get a Link shaped Virtual Donut!


	12. Sharon Krow, Child of Ice

"I do not own the rights to anything that belongs to someone else!" – I.K.A. Valian

* * *

"Speech" 

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

* * *

I couldn't get over this place, even as I searched it for the spirit the Mistress wanted. Honestly, I never thought this spirit would be so hard to find. But that doesn't matter. I'm simply elated that this place is completely frozen over. Just like my heart is now, completely frozen. It reminds me of the day when the Mistress first appeared. 

"Sharon! Don't day dream!"

"I'm sorry, Iggy!"

"Don't call me that foolish name! My name is Clarence. That is something that hasn't changed since the day I started fusing hydrogen!"

"Yeah, yeah…" He was never any fun. All business and no fun, every day. Well… he is a star after all. He was serving the Mistress before I did. I remember when the Mistress arrived in my system of planets. She was like a demon borne on wings of fury. It's something I'll never forget, like my first taste of pie. I sure do like pie.

As I searched the area around the ornately carved piece of stone that had to be a throne, something in the shadows caught my attention. I went over to investigate, but the only think I could see was a bunch of cobwebs in the shadows cast by Iggy's reveal spell. I sighed in disappointment and went back to searching the rest of the room.

I let my mind wander as I looked about the place. I remembered what it was like to have creatures and life of all kind walk about and swim on my surface. It did hurt a little bit, when the Mistress arrived. After all, falling space debris isn't something that arrives without leaving a mark. My days were nothing like this Twilight that the Mistress was into now. Mine were clear as crystal. The snow that covered my continents were pristine and a pure white.

The crater that the Mistress crawled out of wasn't that deep. It barely left a mark on the massive western ice continent. Though, perhaps that was because of the blizzard that was raging as the Mistress fell. Or maybe it was the Mistress who slowed herself down enough for a fairly soft landing. I've had many small meteorites hit me, they were painful.

I was broken out of my memories when I felt a tapping on my shoulder. I turned around, but no one was there. Dax and Iggy were on the other side of the room. So I shrugged and went about my assignment.

The storm on my surface didn't last long after the Mistress landed. It was an odd occurrence when the Mistress absorbed the energy of the storm into her bosom. A marvelous feat I'd never seen before. Oh sure, I'd heard of black holes. But the Mistress was the first time I'd seen anyone or thing absorbing energy on such a massive scale.

At first I was afraid. I sent storm after storm rolling across my continent toward the Mistress, but she calmly absorbed each and every one. In fact, her smile grew wider and wider with each storm she ate. After a while, I'd spent all the energy I had stored up in my atmosphere for the time being. The Mistress was kind and began wandering my surface.

Once more, I was broken out of my remembrance by a tap on my shoulder. This time I waited a few seconds, and I felt the tapping once more. I knew that it had to be Dax playing a trick on me, since Iggy never played tricks… or played at all for that matter. So I waited till someone tapped me on the shoulder again. When I felt the light repetitive cadence, I spun around, thrust my hands out, and shouted "Freeze!"

A beam of ice flakes streamed from my open palms. The air temperature in the room dropped thirty degrees. A definite improvement. When I stopped my spell from freezing the target in front of me, I realized I'd done something very wrong.

Iggy was standing there. He was covered in ice from head to foot. Icicles had formed from the water in the air and attached to his head. The icicles made it look like an ice bomb had exploded in his face. I swallowed loudly and tried to laugh it off as I nervously watched Iggy melt the ice with his internal heat.

"I'm going to assume that was a mistake. It had better not happen again."

"It won't. I promise."

"Good. Now, have you found anything?"

"Uh… nope, nothing."

"Keep looking." I watched Iggy walk off stiffly. He really was an old glacier. He just didn't do anything fun. I remembered the Geiosnie that romped around on my surface and dove under the ice to eat the fish. Those furry white animals sure loved to swim and play in the snow. That is, until the Mistress slaughtered all of them. Their blood stained my snows for many years.

The Mistress didn't stop slaughtering my life forms with the Geiosnie alone. She made Iggy blow a hole in my North Pole Icecap. Then she stretched out her hand. Underneath the ice, all my waters dried up like they'd been sucked into space. The water was simply gone. That didn't mean the things that lived in the water went along. My Mistress enjoyed causing the great continents of ice crash down onto every living thing on my surface. Soon, she was the only one left alive. That was when my Mistress made me her servant.

"Hey, Sharon!" I glanced slyly at Dax and arched an eyebrow. It really annoyed him when I did that because he couldn't do it for the life of him. Just like that hand sign that the people of Earth loved to make while saying, 'Live long and prosper.' I did it as often as I could. "Sharon, do you have to do that? Anyway, did you tap me on the shoulder?"

Now I was very confused and sort of sad. I like to play games. So I get sad when I'm not the one playing them. I shook my head at Dax and he shrugged. He looked just as confused as I feel.

"Hey, you two! Quit loafing around!"

"Sorry sir," I monotoned in sync with Dax. Iggy was being a real block of ice today. And I'm made of ice. And a bit of rock. My core was molten copper, for the most part. I had some granite, on the sea floors, but not too much. I kept the crust thin so I could open vents. The plant life so loved the volcanic vents I opened all over the place.

I don't remember much of what happened when my Mistress consumed my body. I just know that I lost consciousness in my original body and woke up in this one. It wasn't bad. It could move a lot more fluidly than my planetoid one could. I could wiggle my fingers, and my toes. I could swish my pale blue hair around and around. My Mistress forbade me from doing so, but I did manage to get a swirl in here and there along the way. My Mistress makes me wear a gold hair clip to keep all the strands from covering my face.

I would so love to disrobe in here. My Mistress allows me to disrobe in some places. She usually laughs happily when she allows me, as if she were victorious over someone I couldn't see. I don't like it when I have to wear these clothes. They keep my powers in check. Sure, I could still use my basic ice powers. But when I disrobe, I don't even have to concentrate to freeze an entire planet's surface. It's the closest I've ever come to feeling like my old self again. Iggy says that I'm the only one of the Mistress' servants who enjoys freezes things to death.

The same tapping… again? Every ten seconds now, and in the same spot. It had to be Dax. He even brought it up. It was probably a plot to make me think he wasn't the one doing it. Well, two can play at that game!

I stretched my hand out toward the floor, so that it looked like I was just letting my hand hang at my side. Then I extended my power through my fingertips and started layering the ice already on the ground with more ice. The new ice became as slippery as a fish and as inconspicuous as a tree in a forest.

I watched the ice stretch across the floor while keeping up the pretense that I was still looking. When I finally had all the ice painted on the floor, I let myself grin wildly. Several seconds later I heard Dax cry out as he fell and slid across the room into a large stalagmite. The ice pole cracked from the impact and fell on his head.

I no longer held my giggles when Dax made the cutest little squeak. I was laughing so hard that I didn't see Iggy come up behind me. It was when he lifted me into the air by my hair and blasted me with a ball of light that I stopped laughing. Even after that I couldn't keep one or two giggle from escaping my lips. I tried hard not to smile either, since Iggy never seemed to like my smile.

"I thought I told you to stop fooling around?" I could tell that Iggy was trying to hold back something as well. But I don't think it was a giggle. He never giggled.

"I… I just had to get him back for playing that trick on me." Iggy grit his teeth and put me back down slowly. I rubbed my scalp gingerly where my hair was pulled the hardest.

"Just find this Zora bitch and let's get out of here. The Mistress is impatient." Iggy clenched his fists in my face like he was strangling me, but he forced his arms down straight along his sides. I think I made him really mad. He needs to lighten up, just once.

Dax stood up eventually. He was constantly rubbing the spot on his face where the large block of ice fell. His face was all red. I couldn't help but giggle again. Dax glared at me when he heard it. Then his glare slowly turned into a smirk. He was up to something again.

I didn't want to fall for his trick, so I took a step away from where I was standing. He liked to drop random things on my head. He picked it up on Earth when the Mistress watched the talking rabbit on the glowing box.

Dax didn't stop smirking. His face shifted to look deviously gleeful. So I quickly took another step. It didn't matter where I was standing, Dax was still laughing at me with his gaze. I pouted. Then I looked up.

I was subsequently drenched by a waterfall of water. Dax had pooled so much water above the chamber that it didn't matter where I was standing. Lucky for me, water freezes very quickly around me. Not a single drop touched my skin because it froze into cocoon around me. I had to wait in the cocoon for the water roaring by me to finish. When I broke through the ice cocoon, I saw that Iggy was smacking Dax in the head with his foot. He did that to me a lot too.

"I've had enough of both of you're-"

"You can't get me that easily…" I sing-songed. I reached out my arms and cast ice at their feet. When Iggy and Dax tried to move his feet they both fell on their faces. I fell over laughing. "You guys are so funny!"

"Oh, you think we're funny huh," Dax shot back. "Well then try this on for size!" Dax reached a hand out and water formed all around me. The ice cocoon formed underneath me and the water lifted me up. I was carried out of the room on a freight train of rushing liquids, right out of the chamber and over the frozen waterfall.

I screamed the entire time I fell until I hit the bottom with a splat that echoed across the entire frozen Zora's domain. I must admit, Dax got me good that time. Now it was my turn. I used the ice around me to reform my fleshyness and stood back up. I looked up at the top of the waterfall. Dax was standing there, laughing his head off, and pointing at me.

I laughed too, unable to contain the glee I felt while thinking about what I was about to do. I managed to still myself long enough to point at Dax with one of my slender fingers. My fingers weren't thick like Cratty's. He trained a lot though. I don't like training.

I manipulated the ice behind Dax to tilt downward. Dax didn't realize he'd fallen over until he looked down and saw nothing beneath him. He fell down the frozen water fall. I knew he was going to fall, so I reformed the ice. Now he bounced around on the ice like a pinball. When he hit the bottom I had fourteen hundred points and an extra life. I was dancing and giggling madly when he stood up and gave me a sour look.

"Hey, you two!" Dax had his hand outstretched toward me, summoning a water blaster. He must not have heard Iggy above because he started firing at me. I dodged the blasts of water and froze them as they passed me. The massive frozen projectiles slammed into the wall and cracked the rocks. I was having so much fun with this new game that I didn't see Iggy float down in between us. "I thought that you two were going to behave… Now I have nothing but bad news for the Mistress when we get back. And we're not leaving this place without that Queen's spirit!"

It was too late though. A large shadow appeared on the ground. Iggy looked up and I giggled again. I summoned a large ice comet. It was aimed at Dax, but now that Iggy was here, his gravity well was attracting it.

"Hehehe!" I turned my head and saw a small back imp wearing a strange hat. Iggy was glaring at her as he settled down on the ground. Dax was drooling. He was such a hound dog. If it had a pair of breasts and walked on two legs then Dax was interested. "It was such fun playing you against each other." The little imp looked up at the falling comet and clutched her gut in laughter. "Well, it looks like the way is open now, so I'll be leaving you morons." When the little imp girl was finished speaking she threw her hand into the air and started spinning. She got thinner and thinner until she disappeared.

"Sharon!"

"Yes, Iggy?" I giggled.

"You will be severely punished."

"Awe, no fair!" Dax started laughing.

"Dax!"

"Yes sir!"

"You will be punished as well!" I giggled at the shocked face Dax made, it looked so cute!

"What! No fair!"

* * *

The muzzle that was rattling the bars around me woke me up. I wiped my sleepy, half see-through Imp Poe eyes with my equally half see-through hands. This experience was far outside the boundaries I expected from an adventure inside of a video game. 

"Lieutenant!" shouted the soldier rattling my cage, "He's waking up, Lieutenant!"

"Good grief, Mckinsey, I'm right here. You don't need to scream." I watched a soldier, who I assumed was the Lieutenant, stride into the room. He sat down on a wooden chair in front of my cage and clasped his hands together. I assumed he was staring at me, but his green night vision goggles made it particularly hard to tell what he was looking at. "Do you remember what happened?"

I tried to remember. _There was a lot of focused gun fire and shouting from the soldiers around my cage. And they were shooting at something at the other end of the village. I couldn't remember clearly, but I could almost swear I saw Jess. And I remember Shion slipped out of the cage somehow. "Don't go anywhere," she'd said. Yeah, like I can go someplace locked in this cage._

"Your friends, who I can only assume came to rescue you, killed two of my men through unknown methods. My remaining men wanted to off your sorry ass. But I managed to persuade them to hold off on the chance that you could give us some useful information about those people. So, will you help us?"

_How do I respond to that? Plus, these guys can't understand anything I say. So how will he understand if I say yes or no? Maybe a nod will do…_ I nodded my head up and down in an over exaggerated way. The Lieutenant looked satisfied with my answer and crossed his arms, waiting for me to go on. _Okay, how do I do this… Oh! I can use my scythe to draw in the floor. I can carve words into the wood. This might not be so hard._

I held my hand out and summoned my scythe. When it appeared in my hand, the two soldiers on either side of me immediately moved closer to me and stuck the muzzles of their rifles through the cage and into my ethereal head. I, not wanting to find out what happened when they fired, froze. _I may be a ghost, but they have a cage that can hold me. Who knows if their weapons are also effective against ghosts?_

The Lieutenant came to my rescue again. He lifted a hand and waved off the two soldiers. They backed off slowly, keeping their gun sights on me. I breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly, I stuck the blade out of the bars, raised it into the air, and slammed it down into the wooden floor.

The Lieutenant watched with rapt attention, as well as the five other soldiers in the room, as I scraped and gouged a message into the wooden floor boards. When I was done, the Lieutenant stood up and scratched his head. The soldier who was shouting when I woke up read aloud what I'd written.

"Yo! I'm not really an Imp Poe, but a human from Earth. My name is Valian. What's yours?" The Lieutenant looked back and forth between me and the message on the floor. I crossed my arms and stared at the Lieutenant. _If I'm going to be taken to some sort of jail for getting the short end of stick, I want to know my captor's name._

The Lieutenant stopped looking at the message to stare at me while rubbing his chin. Finally, he sat down again. "I'm having a hard time believing you're human." I reached out with my scythe and scratched a response. The same soldier read aloud again.

"'Too bad.' Hey, Lieutenant, this guy doesn't seem to be giving us any useful information. Let's just off him and be on our way. Please, Lieutenant, I've got a date tonight."

"Shut up, Mckinsey. A moment ago, we didn't even know that this creature knew our language. He may be our only way of getting home."

"Yes sir," Mckinsey said with a hint of disappointment. The Lieutenant turned back to me.

"My name is Lieutenant Miles Tracey. First Division, Dimensional Explorative Force. I lead this team. Now that we're introduced, how about you tell us how to unblock the transport system."

_Transport system? Is that how they got here? They have to be from Earth. They sure act like it. Maybe whatever is sucking up the magic in this area is stopping their transport system from working too. _I scratched as much into the floor boards with my scythe and the Lieutenant looked at me with a scrunched up, confused face after he read it.

All eyes in the room were drawn to the door as it started crying out. The wood slowly warped inward until the hinges gave way. When they went, the door flew across the room and slammed into the back wall. Dust showered down onto the floor. When everyone turned to look back at the now open door way, there was Jess.

"Well, well, well. It looks like I found you." Jess licked her lips and clawed her hands. She jumped into the room before any of the soldiers could bring their weapons to bear on her. I was caught off guard when Lieutenant Tracey picked my cage up and launched it at her. It took four seconds to sail through the air and crash into Jess.

As the six soldiers cleared out of the room and made for a get away, Jess groaned and looked up at me through the bars. Apparently, she could see me for what I was because she narrowed her eyes. "You," she said accusingly. "What are you doing in here? You're supposed to be with that guy in green!"

"Eh, heh… I… uh…" I stammered and rubbed the back of my head. _This is great, apparently she didn't want me to be hurt! Maybe she does care about me…_

"This is most fortuitous, my Mistress will be overjoyed." Jess ignored the men and their escape, focusing on me and the cage I was in. "We must thank those strange intruders for capturing you for us." _Ugh, I was wrong. _I raised my head up and stared pleadingly at the ceiling. _Why can't she care about me, even a little bit?_

Jess stood up and dusted herself of. Then she picked my cage up and carried me out of the building. Jess took three steps out of the building when a shot rang out in the Twilight. I didn't realize what happened until Jess dropped my cage and clutched her hand. Blood covered her green gown and when I looked, I found her blood splattered all over me. _Who shot her? I'll kick their ass!_ Before Jess could react, a grapple hook attached to my cage.

I flew through the air inside my cage. The grapple line pulled me up to the spring where the six soldiers stood. I looked back the way I'd flown when Jess screamed out her rage. A man wearing what looked like samurai armor appeared at her side and then in a swirl of mist and fire, she appeared. _Oh crap… she's here! It's her! The Witch!_

I summoned my scythe and started scribbling a message into the dirt. "Witch is evil. Run away. Transport blocker in gorge. That way." I drew an arrow in the dirt pointing toward Kakariko Gorge. Unfortunately, no one was looking. Everyone was staring at the Witch, Jess, and the samurai as they slowly walked toward us. I screeched and slammed my scythe into the leg of the soldier holding my cage.

"Ouch, why you little- Lieutenant, he wrote something else!" The soldier moved out of the way as Lieutenant Tracey walked past. He crouched down and read what I'd written. He looked up at the approaching Witch and then back down. He looked like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. _Probably doesn't know what to believe, a ghost that knows more than it should or his training. I hope he goes with the ghost._

"Men, we're moving out. Head to the gorge, now!" _Yes!_ Lieutenant Tracey grabbed my cage as he and his men jogged down the narrow pass and turned it to look me in the eye with his green goggles. "This better not be a trap!" The Lieutenant let go of my cage. The two Bulblins guarding the gate were gone when we passed through.

The men sprinted to a tree where they spread out. They all had their guns pointed at the spot where the Witch would appear. My cage was handed off to Lieutenant Tracey as the man holding me took up a position of his own. The Lieutenant lifted me up to eye level.

"Where is the blocker that is stopping our Transport System?" I shrugged. _I don't know where it is exactly. I just know it's somewhere around here._ "No!" shouted the Lieutenant. "Don't give me that. You said it was this way, so where is it?" I motioned at the ground with my scythe and the Lieutenant set me down.

I started scratching immediately. "I don't know where it is exactly, I just know it's here. Please let me out so that I can find it."

The Lieutenant shook his head. "No, I can't let you out. You just show me where it is, and I'll take care of it."

I shook my head and scribbled, "I told you already." I waited a few seconds before I added, "Please, trust me?"

Lieutenant Tracey sighed. He was about to respond when Mckinsey shouted something. The Lieutenant looked up and then signaled for his men to open fire. The five men started shooting at the Witch. She walked calmly onward; the bullets screaming at her bounced harmlessly off an invisible shield. I was fairly shocked when one of the soldiers stopped firing at the Witch. He turned to face me and shot off the lock to the cage.

"Aarons!" shouted Tracey. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry sir, but if that little shit knows how to save our asses then I'm willing to give him a shot. Wouldn't matter if he did betray us at this point since we'd be dead meat anyway." _I was finally free! I resented being called a little shit, but he's right. It wouldn't matter if I did betray them, not that I would. Time to find that machine._

I left the bickering soldiers behind and floated into the gorge. It didn't take me long to find the smell of ozone again. The smell was coming from a wall of the earthen crevice; it oozed from a crack in the side wall like a broken gas main.

Not wasting any time, I hefted my scythe and started. After I was spinning at a high velocity, I slammed the scythe into the wall of the gorge. The wall crumbled off into the abyss below. Inside the shallow cave that was formed was jar shaped machine with lights blinking all over it.

"So this is the machine that's sucking up the magic and being a general pain in the butt?" I floated closer to it and looked it over. I quickly backed up when a trail of my ethereal body was sucked into the mouth of the jar. "I've never seen something like this before. It sucks even ghosts up!"

I shrugged and started stabbing the electronic jar with my scythe. Over and over my blade sunk into the electronics on the outside of the device. Every time the weapon crossed a circuit, a small puff of smoke rose into the air.

All of my stabbing didn't stop the device from sucking pieces of my body into it. _I bet the Ghost Busters had something like this when they captured ghosts. I've got to hurry or else there won't be much left of me._

I reared my scythe back for one final blow to the jar. For an instant I watched things slow down. Then I slammed my scythe into the jar, cutting the thing in half. There was a dull thud as the magic stored up in the jar exploded.

A plume of magical energies poured out of the small hole in the wall. The energies filled the gorge and then exploded again. All the energies shot into the sky like a rainbow.

The Witch was pleasantly happy to see this happen. She'd expected it, wished for it, planned for it. Now the boy, the only one who could stop her, was gone.

She knew the cave would soon collapse on top the boy. Even if that he was somehow able to survive the blast of magic, the cave in would assure that he wouldn't be able to escape his fate.

* * *

When Midna appeared in South Hyrule field, she found Link and the bridge. She also found a massive pile of dirt. As she settled in her spot on the wolf's back, she scratched him behind his ear. He didn't like it because it felt good and that was exactly why she did it. 

"It looks like you had some fun with out me, fearless hero." Link shook his shaggy mane and huffed. "Well, you weren't the only one. Come. Let us get this bridge back to where it belongs." Midna leaped into the air from Link's back and hovered over the bridge. Her hair stretched out and became a glowing, pulsing third arm. The newly formed hand pointed at the bridge. Black lightning erupted from Midna's magical appendage and spread across the bridge.

The bridge slowly rose into the sky and then dispersed into the portal above as a million little black squares. Link suddenly exploded into the same little black squares. He too was sucked into the swirling vortex of Twilight magic above. Midna surveyed the mound of dirt once more and wondered about the pieces of different animals and monsters sticking out. Then she swirled into nothingness and warped along with the bridge and Link.

* * *

Yeah! I'm almost done with this small story arc. Just one or two more chapters till I start the Goron Mines.

As always, please review. And thanks for reading!


	13. Uncorupt Royalty

"I do not own the rights to anything that belongs to someone else!" – I.K.A. Valian

* * *

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

* * *

The explosion of magic was immense. There is no way to describe it with words that would do such a terrifyingly wondrous thing justice. The closest that one can get is a great, majestic wave of beauty that enticed lovingly with a promise of death. And yet, for all its cruel majesty, the explosion did very little damage. The only one who actually saw it was the Princess, from the tower prison she stood in.

Her face cloaked by a magical funeral cloth, Princess Zelda stood in her chambers, her prison. She watched the explosion with a passive face. She knew that had such a thing taken place before the veil of Twilight fell, many lives would have been lost. Though it left a foul taste in her mouth, she thanked the Goddesses for her weakness, if only this once.

There was a scrambling outside of her door as the guards posted there quickly moved out of the way. Zelda did not turn as the door opened. Instead she continued to watch the fallout of the enormous explosion. The colors of the magical cloud were mesmerizing to watch, and the princess much preferred that to her current visitor.

"My precious Princess, how good of you to watch my work." Zelda did not answer. She watched the magical fires fade, overtaken by the suppressive Twilight. "Oh, no witty come backs? Come, come Princess, it's only proper etiquette to respond to those who address you."

"I'm sorry," Zelda cut back with bitter politeness, "but your infantile discourse deserves no such response." Zelda was slightly disturbed, but remained still, when the long, pale arm of Azela reached over her shoulder and sensually cupped her bosom. The Witch's other arm snaked around Zelda's midsection.

The Witch held her tight as she pressed her form into the princess' back. She didn't let anything slip, locking all her immediate wish to slap the witch silly behind a granite solid mask of indifferent resentment. Zelda, grossly groped by the sinister woman behind her, desperately wished her more powerful spells would work in the Twilight.

"Now, now, my precious Princess," Azela cooed softly into Zelda's ear. The princess barely managed to hold back a shiver. "There's no need to be so impolite to me. We're… sisters after all, aren't we?"

"I don't make a habit of relating to such vile creatures as yourself. _Sister_ would be better reserved for the Zora Matriarch." Zelda gratefully managed to break away from Azela's sickening grip. She turned around and leveled her best glare at her assailant. The witch responded by gazing at the princess.

"I could just eat you right up," Azela said, stalking smoothly forward. Her footsteps were so light that the sound was imperceptible. "But I can't do that, not yet anyway. The master wishes for you to see the soon to be end of your Kingdom." Azela sighed. She picked up a lock of Zelda's hair and letting it slide through her fingers. "Such a waste, too."

Zelda glared silently as Azela sauntered out of her chambers. When she was gone, Zelda rubbed herself friskily wherever the disgusting woman had touched. Her whole body was shuddering with revulsion as she forced the images out of her mind. She hoped never to have that woman's hands on her again.

Looking out the window again, Zelda wondered what was happening to Hyrule. Sure, bad things took place and it seemed like it was supposed to happen at the time. Yet, for some reason, in the back of her head, there was a voice telling her that it wasn't supposed to be this bad. Zelda closed her eyes and let out a long breath, letting go of all her pent up emotions at the same time.

Of course she'd dreamt of the Twilight King years before she'd ever become reagent. Her dreams haunted her even now. That she dreamed of what happened in its exact detail and swore that she wouldn't allow it to happen. When Zant had invaded, she could only watch, as if she were dreaming still, as events played out exactly as they had before. Once a proud and head strong leader, Princess Zelda was now a shallow husk of the person she once was. Though, she never gave up the hope that her people would be free once more.

Though she couldn't see it, the blast of magic transformed the landscape. A few rocks still rolled down the hillsides, adding to the pile of rocks that now completely filled the gorge. The tall walls or rock that once protected the village of Kakariko, now stood as steaming heaps of slag. The topsoil had been flayed by the blast, now the landscape was a smoking field of potholes and soot.

Out of the swirling Twilight portal above, small black speck began to fall. After a few seconds millions of small, twirling black squares appeared and formed a bridge of an old and half rotten wood. Seconds after that, the remaining black squares in the air condensed to form two beings. The first was a wolf that shook itself out like it was shedding water after getting wet. The second was a four foot tall imp that, once formed, fell onto the back of the wolf with a slight bump.

"After all that, this piece of the Fused Shadow had… better… … be…" Midna jumped into the air and spun around in a full circle, taking in the utter carnage and destruction. Her mouth was half open and her single visible red eye seemed to get wider and wider with each second. Midna finally came to a stop facing the bridge tilting back and forth in the air.

Link by this time had run around the area, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. He stopped in the place he started, directly below Midna. Midna was opening and closing her mouth, trying to say something. She looked back and forth between the filled up gorge and the bridge floating in the air, unable to form a single understandable string of syllables that could be called a word.

Link whined as he started at the dark imp. He laid down on the ground and put his head between front paws, swishing his thick furry tail back and forth and tossing dust into the air with each stroke. A light breeze blew through the area, creating a dust devil that spun off toward Hyrule Castle.

"What the _**TRIFORCE**_!" Midna floated, heaving from the effort of shouting so loudly. A group of rocks crumbled down in the distance. A few animals that had ventured out of their hiding spots scurried back into them. Link winced and flattened his ears.

Midna growled and clenched a fist. "I am going to kill Valian so very slowly for this. I told him I didn't want to be sent on a wild goose chase! What do we even need this bridge for now anyway! Argh!"

Midna pointed at the bridge and it burst into flames. That not being enough, Midna reached out an arm and with an invisible hand, grabbed the flaming span. Then she started slamming it into the ground violently, laughing insanely as she did so. The bridge soon became a pile of burning splinters. Midna barked a final peal of cruel laughter, then landed back onto Link's furry back. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, impatiently waiting for the hero to take off.

Link trotted across the newly filled in gorge. He skirted around the smoking pile of ashes that the bridge had become, blinking his eyes a few times to get the smoke out of them. The wolf trotted up the hill toward the remains of the gate that once stood in front of the entrance to Kakariko and sniffed at the rubble now blocking the narrow passage through the walls of slag. He tested the melted slag heap with his paw, but the only thing that happened was a few rocks rolled down noisily from above.

Link didn't like how quiet it was. With all this damage and destruction, the silence was unsettling. It made the fur on the back of his neck stand up. A feeling which didn't subside when Midna grabbed onto the same fur with her tiny hands and pulled it painfully to spur him into action.

Link moved around the slag heap, sniffing at the ground for any trails or clues. He came upon a circle of the ground that wasn't so badly ravaged by the blast. The way that the ground looked, it was almost as if someone had set up a barrier here. Link snorted and moved on.

The wolf stopped mid tracks when he heard a groaning farther in front of him. A small pile of ash started moving and getting bigger. Link growled at the pile of ash as it rose into the air.

Shion rubbed her eyes and shook the ash off of her wings. When she opened them again, Link was standing in front of her and Midna was floating above her. Shion swallowed loudly when Midna's hair stretched out and grabbed her tightly. The hair squeezed her so tight that Shion though she was going to explode.

Midna brought close to her face and focused her single red eye on the Elvis looking fairy. Shion made a miniature loud swallow sound. They stayed like that for a few minutes staring at each other.

Finally, Midna broke the silence and asked, "What happened here?"

"It was the witch again. She showed up and apparently set up some kind of device that was sucking up all the magic in the area. It was screwing up anything magical in nature. We tried to shut it down, but the Witch attacked us and there were also these other guys trying to stop us. In the end, Valian must have found the device, because the magic that was being sucked up exploded after he flew down into the gorge."

Midna let go of Shion and slid back onto Link. A thoughtful look was partially hidden behind Midna's mask. Shion dropped her wings and floated down to settle on the ground. She kind of sniffed a little.

"The witch was attacking everyone and everything," Shion sighed. "I was searching for Valian again, because I was separated from him earlier. I got into the field here just as he went over the edge of the gorge. I raced after him, trying to catch up to him. I knew that if a device holding so much energy wasn't deactivated properly, it would explode." Shion turned her head and looked at the pile of rubble filling the gorge. "I just flew over the edge when the bomb went off. The energy filled the gorge and flew into the air like a waterfall. The last thing I remember was being thrown backwards by the force of the explosion."

"So that's what happened," surmised with a yawn. "I was wondering why the Way was suddenly closed. So I suppose that if a magic bomb of this magnitude went off right in his face, he died on the spot." Midna shrugged. "Oh well, saves me the time of having to skin him myself. Let's go Link. We still have a Fused Shadow to find." Link growled and looked down at the rubble filled gorge. "Oh come now," Midna admonished, slapping Link lightly on the back of the head. "Let's go or do you not wish to save your little friends?"

Link stared down at the rubble for a few seconds and then turned away and walked off with a grunt. Midna had a satisfied smirk on her face and leaned back with her hands behind her head. Shion sat there for a few more minutes before she flew after Link and Midna.

* * *

"See, I told you there was an entrance over here." Shion settled on Link's furry head and started pulling on a few hairs.

"Meh." Midna waved dismissively. "So what? I'm still not sure why you are still here. Go back to your den or wherever it is you came from."

Shion shook her Elvis shaped head. "No, I'm feeling like I should stick with you, so that's what I'm doing."

Midna sighed. "Whatever."

Link walked into the village, carefully avoiding the steaming slag that filled most of the spring that once existed at the new entrance. Link stopped to sniff at a strange object buried in ash. It turned out to be a half full Vessel of Light, which Midna held up in the air.

"Well Link." Midna patted Link on the back. "You know what to do, so get to it!" Link sprinted forward, using his senses to track down the various Tears of Light. After clearing the village proper and the graveyard, Link stopped searching for the Tears and started searching for the kids. He found them all huddled together inside the burned out remains of Renado's house.

They were talking about Valian and the giant explosion that took place. Link tried to talk to them, but they couldn't hear him. Shion didn't have any luck either. Midna just sat there and giggled madly, mocking their attempts.

"It's not use," she said through giggles. "They can't see you, just like the people in the castle. How ironic, to be so close and yet they can't even see you. Hehehe, such a sad hero. Let's go, the faster we retrieve the Tears of Light, the faster we get my next Fused Shadow." Link growled under his breath and jumped through a partially blown out window. The window suddenly shattering made the ghostly residents gasp but by then Link was running as fast as his legs could carry him up the hill toward Death Mountain.

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes, trying to keep as much of the light out as possible. I didn't want to wake up. I was having such a wonderful dream about being inside of a Zelda game and living my fan fiction dreams out. Though at the end it turned into something more like a nightmare.

I looked around my room and groaned as the memories flooded back. I wasn't in my room, at least not my room at home. I was inside the Library that existed within my head. I guess this is how I see the inside of my mind. Kurosaki sat at one of the tables snoring loudly with his head on one of the books. _Books!_

I took a quick look around and noticed that the shelves were full of books once more. _Well, at least I'm not dead again._ I looked out of a window and saw the great fields of grass and the single dirt road that was supposed to be here. _Now what am I supposed to do? Did I finish off that magic jar thing sucking up all the magic? Or was I sucked into the jar and now I'm stuck inside of my own mind._

"Hey!" I spun around and came face to face with… myself. "Who are you?"

"Who am I? Who are you?" We looked each other over with a critical eye before crossing our arms, at the same time. _Okay, this is stupid._ "Okay, if you're me and I'm you, then do you know why I'm here?"

"I was going to ask you that. Do you?" I shook my head and he looked slightly disappointed, but then looked up with my stupid grin. _He stole my stupid grin!_ "No matter, let's ask Kurosaki!"

"But he's sleeping…"

"So, let's wake him up." I acquiesced and we walked toward Kurosaki. He was sleeping, as I said before, on top of a book. The book was opened to about the middle and Kurosaki was drooling onto the page.

"Oh, look… drool." I lifted Kurosaki's head, careful not to get my hand full of his orange hair or his drool, and pulled the book out. I had to hold it away from me as more drool than seemed to be on the page poured forth and onto the floor.

I carefully turned the book over and read the title. _Idiot's guide to Helping Other Idiots Use their Power for Defense… never heard of it._ I looked down at Kurosaki. _I wonder why he was reading that…_

"You don't think he was reading that because I'm an idiot," my double asked me. I shook my head.

"No, I think it's cause we're both idiots." I handed the book to the other me. He opened the books red cover and started reading the flimsy white pages. "Anyway, what's it say we should do?" He shrugged.

"It says that we're stupid idiots for not using our powers to defend against the blast of magic that knocked us out."

"But I don't know how to do that yet!"

"It also says that we're an idiot for not figuring that out in the three days we had to ourselves." I grabbed the book from my doppelganger's hands and started reading. Then I closed the book and started searching the cover.

"Who wrote this anyway? … "Idiots Guide to Helping Other Idiots Use their Power for Defense" … by I.K.A. Valian… What! I didn't write this!"

My double grabbed the book back and started reading. "Maybe we haven't written it yet. Anyway, it says we need two people. One to attack and the other to defend without reciprocating. Hey! It's a good thing there are two of us."

I sighed and shook my head. "But where are we going to fight. Besides that, what are we going to fight with? I don't have a sword! And you don't have a shield."

"Actually," my double picked up Kurosaki's sword and held it out toward me. "Now I have a sword."

"But I don't have anything!" My double took a slash at me. I jumped out of the way and he slashed through the table that Kurosaki was sleeping on. He fell onto the floor, still asleep and drooling. "Hey! Stop that!"

"No, it's what the book said. You'll just have to find a way to defend yourself."

"With what?" I cried desperately as my double wildly slashed at me. I ducked behind a book case. His sword suddenly chopped through the middle and I had to roll out of the way to avoid being crushed beneath the falling book case. "Would you stop and wait for me to find something?!"

"Sorry," my double said, slashing at me and then stabbing into the floor. "No can do, the book specifically said that it has to be an unrelenting onslaught of attacks. Hurry up and defend yourself!" My double took another swing at me and I dodged.

_Why can't I get any peace and quiet anymore? Not even in my own head. How am I going to defend myself from myself?_ I leaped back a foot as Kurosaki's sword slammed into the ground. I looked around at the damage done so far. Books were strewn about, some cut in half. A few of the ceiling high shelves were in pieces. And the carpet was shredded in several places.

"Look, if you don't defend yourself, you'll never master this technique."

"But how am I supposed to defend myself when I don't have anything?"

"Use your imagination." My double took a swing at my head. I ducked and pivoted out with my feet. My foot slammed into my doubles' legs and knocked him backwards. I was about to get up when I felt the exact same pain that my double was feeling at the moment in his backside. _I can feel what he feels. Does that mean he can feel what I feel?_

Before my double could react, I punched myself in my stomach as hard as I could. Pain erupted in my abdomen. I doubled over and fell to the ground with an 'oomph'. When I managed to open my eyes, I saw my double standing over and looking at me like I was a retard. _He's not in any pain? But how? I can feel his pain, why can't he feel mine?_

"Look bud, if you're going beat yourself up, I'm gonna go sit with Kurosaki." My double lowered the sword he was holding, pointing it at the ground. I lunged at him and started pounding on his face. Before long, my nose was bleeding and his wasn't. He pushed me off and I stood there, wiping the blood away and tentatively touching the bruises I gave myself.

"How… why?" I stammered. My double pulled the book out and started reading, completely ignoring me. He flipped through a few pages before he nodded and threw the book away.

"Book says that if you're always using your power to attack, then you'll never be able to defend." My double pulled his sword out of the ground and leveled it at me again. "Let's hurry up with this, I'm getting hungry."

"Yeah, I know." I grabbed my midsection as my stomach let loose a tirade of grumblings. _Great, he's even giving me his hunger. What's next, indigestion? Ow… I shouldn't have punched myself…_

My double started attacking again. I dodged as best I could, but I kept getting cuts and gashes. It wasn't long before every step I took dislodged a torrential downpour of my blood. _I won't last much longer at this rate. If I can't attack, and run away, and I can't fight back, then what can I do?_

I dodged another attack from my clone and stumbled, falling into a heap. _I need some space to think. All this blood loss in my head is making me dizzy. Strange how I can feel pain in my own mind, but there's no time to think about that._ I rolled out of the way as my opponent tried to skewer me like a shish kebob.

_This is gonna hurt me more than it's gonna hurt you!_ I reared my right arm back and socked my double as hard as I could in the face. I felt my nose break at the same time. More blood started falling from me now. Luckily, the force of the impact didn't transfer as well. My double went flying backwards and fell into a heap onto the flat of his blade. A few more cuts opened up on my legs, no doubt from where the sword cut him.

But I had space now. I could think for a few seconds before he got up. I also had to catch my breath and still my vision. I could barely stand. It wasn't long before I fell onto the ground with a squelch. I watched in a daze as the pool of crimson around me, my blood, got larger and larger.

My double stood up and brushed himself off, like nothing had happened. He looked at me and did a double take, his mouth falling open. "You look like shit." I wanted to respond in kind, but my lips wouldn't move anymore. The only thing I seemed to be able to do with an immense amount of concentration was sit up, breath, and keep my eyes open. "Well, time to end this."

The person who looked exactly like me, who probably was me, who was so easily beating the crap out of and killing me, charged at me with Kurosaki's sword raised above his head. He screamed a battle cry and went all out._ How could I be like that? Could I be so callous? So heartless? Is that what I'm like when I attacked others? Am I really so… relentless?_

I sat in a puddle of my own blood and watched a vision of myself, a cruel and terrifying vision of myself, running at me with the intent to kill. I couldn't give up, but I couldn't run away and try again. _This is it. Either I find a way to stop him from killing me or I die_. _And I can't die, not yet. I absolutely have to live so that I can stop the terror I unleashed_._ But how can I stop the witch if I couldn't even stop myself? If only I could move my arms!_

I looked at myself, bearing down upon me with sword held high. I silently wished, as the blade came down, that it would miss me. I closed my eyes, expecting to open them again and be in that wide open field once more, where the judges judged me inside of a tree and the Goddesses of Hyrule brought me back from. However when I opened my eyes, I did not see that field.

I was still in the library, bleeding to death in my own mind. But I was still in one tattered, bloody piece. The sword had missed, pushed to the side by some unseen force. I would have shouted for joy had I the strength. I managed to look up at my other self, only my other's face had changed, he was no longer my lookalike, but a man. A very old man inside of a very strange and shiny suit of white armor.

I opened and closed my mouth, trying to speak, but the blood on my lips made them stick together. The result sounded like a fish trying to breath out of water. The old man smiled and put an armored hand on my shoulder. All the pain I was in instantly disappeared, along with the blood and the bruises.

I searched my body hastily and then looked up in awe of the man in front of me. His beard was very long, almost long enough to touch the floor. And yet, it did not hinder his movements when he walked or ran around. I put a hand on my head and tried to comprehend what just happened.

"Sorry to deceive you like that, young man. But it was necessary to teach you the lesson. You are finally able to use your Power in a defensive manner. Congratulations." The old man pounded me on the back a few times. I broke away from the old man and turned to stare at him.

"But I didn't do anything!"

"Hehe, that's where you're wrong. Defending isn't about attacking. Attacking is about attacking. And defending is also not about running away. Running away is about running away. Defending is about defending, and that means taking the hit without taking the hit."

I pushed on my skull as everything he said was absorbed and made my head hurt. "How can I take a hit without taking a hit?"

"That is what your Power does. It takes the hit for you when you are prepared to take the hit. You can't attack and you can't run away. You must take the hit. You must also have a clear mind. During our battle, you were so wrapped up with trying to figure out how to defeat me that you couldn't think straight. Plus, being able to stand in one spot and take a hit you know is coming takes a lot of guts or a lack of alternatives. You had to be pushed to the latter. But you got it, in the end."

"Yeah," I snorted and crossed my arms and leveled a stare at the old man, "barely old man."

"Hahahaha! That's the spirit! And my name is Oberon, not old man. That's what you'll have to say if you want to use this power again. But remember it will only work if your mind is completely clear and you are completely willing to take the hit. Also, using your Power in this manner is very tiring. The longer you use it, the closer you get to dropping dead. Remember that."

"Okay, I will Oberon. Now can you tell me how to wake up, I don't know if I'm dead or just an Imp Poe right now." The old man nodded. I turned and walked out of the door of the library, directly into a super bright light. When I could see again, I was looking straight into the eyes of Jess.

Please review and thanks for reading.


	14. Cratos the Honorable Swordsman

"I do not own the rights to anything that belongs to someone else!" – I.K.A. Valian

* * *

"Speech" 

_Thoughts_

Actions/Descriptions

* * *

The wind was calm here, soothing even. The fresh earthy smell that filled this grotto also helped calm the raging emotions flowing through my heart. The thought that I was no longer an Imp Poe crossed the fringes of my waking mind, but what held all of my attention was the woman in front of me. Staring straight at me was Jess Natalia. 'Stare' wasn't the best word to describe what she was doing, no; it was more like what my cat did when she was looking at something interesting. Jess was studying me. 

And the longer she studied me, the longer my heart thudded loudly in my chest, the longer my blood pounded in my ears, and the longer I was paralyzed with a mixture of fear of Jess and fear that if I moved, this moment would end and we'd end up fighting. After a long time of me staring at her and Jess staring at me, she abruptly stood up. The fog layering the ground of this dark forest grotto swirled around her demure waist as she sauntered toward me.

I made an attempt to push myself up, away, anything, but my arms felt like they were made of jelly. No matter how hard I pushed, I just couldn't gather the strength to move myself. Thus, I watched Jess stride up to me and then stare down at me, studying me further.

In retrospect, I was pretty calm with the whole situation. I don't know if it was that I'd faced death or if it was that I couldn't move. Not to mention I was at this person's complete mercy. Still, not even an inkling of panic touched my being. Instead, an almost serene calm fell over me, and I couldn't help but revel in the unexpected and strange happiness that filled me.

"You are very confusing to me." Jess' sudden statement jerked me from my reverie. That was certainly not something that I expected to hear from her.

"How do you mean?"

Jess sat down cross-legged and put her hands into her lap, leisurely holding upper body erect. "What is it that keeps you going? How is it that you resisted the Mistress?"

I thought about her question, mentally going over my reasons with a magnifying glass. "I guess… I know, I resister her because I can and others cannot."

"That is not what I meant." Jess tilted her head that caused several of her red and blond hair to fall past her face. I couldn't stop myself from feeling a little taken in by the cuteness of it, something even the most hardened dictators would have trouble with. "On your planet, you were under the Mistress' spell. She'd almost gotten you to kill yourself and yet, you turned against her. How?"

"I, uh… How'd you know about that?" Jess' eyebrows knitted in concentration.

"I was trapped with the other planet servants of the Mistress inside of her spirit. We were only released once our mistress arrived here, on this world. Inside of our bondage on your world, we were only able to see and hear the world around the Mistress. It was through that connection that we all saw and know of you. And, you haven't answered my question. How were you able to resist the Mistress?"

I remained silent as I processed what she'd said. _'Why is she being so nice to me? She wasn't this nice the last time we were alone at the Forest Temple.' _"I, uh… don't know. That memory isn't very clear. I remember feeling like I wasn't the only one in my head, but other than that, the whole thing is very hazy."

"I see," she said, almost sadly. Then she looked up, her eyes full of fire, and said, "Well, then you can't help me. I'll just have to find another way." Jess stood up and started walking away. I held out my hand toward her.

"Wait!" She stopped. "Why? Why can't I help you?"

Jess paused for a few minutes, contemplatively staring at the ground. Then, without looking back, she said, "Because you are not bound to the Mistress."

"Just because I'm not bound to her does not mean that I can't help."

"The only thing that the Mistress would possibly entertain as a term for my release is not only the power of hers that you possess, but your soul and life energy as well. And that doesn't guarantee that she'll keep-"

"Then that's what I'll do." Jess turned and stared at me like I just said I'd jump off of a cliff into a pit of lava.

"Are you insane? You would be sacrificing yourself for a chance that I'd be freed, not even a guarantee."

"I've been called worse than insane, but yeah, I would do all of that."

"And if she did not keep her word?"

I thought about it for a few seconds and then shrugged. "Well, at least then we'd be screwed together. And that would make two people she has bound to her that don't want to be so. That is true, right? You don't actually want to serve her?"

Jess hesitated in answering, as if the truth of her feelings would betray her to the witch. Finally, she said, "Yes, I wish to be free of her. But that is beside the point. You are in no way capable of bargaining for my freedom. And I am in no way capable of breaking free myself. There is nothing we can do to change that."

Jess walked off into the woods. I sat there and thought about our conversation. _'Would I really sacrifice myself to free her from that witch?'_

/\  
/\/\

What felt like hours later, Jess returned, walking back into the glade with a small animal clutched in her hand. By then I'd gained the strength to stand up and move around. I hadn't discovered anything important, other than my Wii-mote and Lantern. Jess dropped the rabbit-like creature in the center of the glade and looked at me curiously.

"You stayed?"

"Well… yeah, why not?"

"I serve your enemy, my Mistress. Why would you stay?"

"Well… I, uh… have no clue where I am. And I… feel safe around you and…" My heart was once again thudding in my chest and my blood pounding in my ears. I rubbed my hands together and then wiped the cold sweat that had accumulated on my palms onto my pants. _'I can do this, I can tell her I like her, it can't be that hard.'_

"And?"

"Uh… nothing." _'I so totally hate myself right now'_

Jess pointed behind me. "Go that way. Just follow the wind, it blows north."

I moved to leave, but stopped mid-stride. I half turned and asked, "Why are you helping me? Like you said I'm your mistress' enemy. So… why?"

Jess stood silently. A light breeze blew through the grotto, Jess' hair to billow about her slender form. I watched her and she watched me.

"Because… You're not bound to the Mistress."

/\  
/\/\

It was later that day, actually night had already fallen a few hours earlier, that I emerged from the forest onto a large open field. The cool night air blew in small gusts across the field, causing the tall grass to ripple as if it were alive. The moon was bright and reflected off the enormous wall that was the edge of the Twilight surrounding Lanayru Province.

"I guess that means that Link was able to restore Eldin," I said aloud to myself. I surveyed the field I stood at the precipice of and settled on staring at the fiery peak of Death Mountain. "And that means Link's now in the Goron Mines. I hope he's and the others are alright."

Thunder attracted my attention to the sky behind me. Rain clouds were gathering quickly above and around the mountains that surrounded this valley. Not wanting to get caught in the rain, I took off running across the grassy field, leaving a trail as I went.

It didn't take long before I felt the first sprinkles of the rain falling. Moments later, I was completely drenched. The rain made the large open field soggy and muddy. Every step I took was a monumental effort to pull my foot forward. Small, shallow rivers formed all around me as the rain gathered together and traveled downhill.

Though the effort was growing harder and harder, I kept moving forward. Soon, that's all I was thinking about, having to concentrate on moving one foot in front of the other to keep the extreme soreness all over my body from overcoming me and making me fall over.

The ground was flooded now, my feet were inundated every step I took. Overhead, the sky crackled and sparked with lightning and thunder. I shivered, the wetness soaking my body draining all heat from it like some starving vampire finally getting something to suck life from.

Lightning flared and thunder roared. And I fell. The sudden water going up my nose brought me back to myself and I pushed up onto my knees, choking and sputtering. I kneeled in the water covered plains, surrounded by waist high grass that was somehow still standing with the ankle high water flowing past the base of their stalks.

It was just after the latest peal of thunder that I heard it. The distinctive noise associated with a heard of animals. Only, this sounded more like the animals were running in a blind panic.

Forcing my legs to move, I moved into a crouching position so that only the top of my head was over the top edge of the tall grass around me. From my position I couldn't see the animals. Of course, the pitch black of night and storm didn't help either. After a few flashes of lightning though, I could tell that the animals weren't stampeding. But if I wanted to see and know more, I needed to be closer to what was going on.

Falling back into my pattern of pulling one leg out of the mud and then sinking it back in one step at a time, I moved forward once more. Gradually, the ground became less muddy beneath my feet and the grass began shrinking. By the time my feet weren't sinking into mud anymore, I realized where I was and what I'd heard. They weren't stampeding animals, but rampaging Bullbos.

The Bulblins riding the raging pigs were steering them around in a circle. Instead of throwing dust into the air, mud was flying everywhere. And in the center of the flying circle of mud was the large leader of the Bulblins, King Bulblin.

The rain slowed to a slight drizzle and the Bulblins all slowed their steeds to a trot. Across the suddenly still plains, a shrill horse cried out. Ever set of eyes, beady and not, turned toward Death Mountain. The moon broke through the clouds just long enough to shine from behind the figure on a rearing horse. I immediately recognized the figure as Link and the horse as Epona.

All the Bulblins had come to a complete stand still, casting appalling silence over the field. From across the field, I could hear King Bulblin snort and shake his tree branch at Link. Link's yanked his sword from its sheath and pointed it, blade still ringing, at the King of Bulblins.

The King lifted an enormous horn to his mouth. The sound that blasted from the other end of the instrument made my knees shake and my bones rattle, which was surprising considering that I was on the other side of the field. Even after the King had stopped blowing, sound from the great horn still rang out.

The rain clouds above, as if in response to the horn's call, began loosing their rain once more. I groaned as heavy sheets of ice cold droplets began to fall onto the field. _'Not more rain,'_ I moaned internally.

The thundering hooves of rampaging boars filled the air as every single one of the Bullbos were spurred on by their Bulblin riders toward Link. Link nudged Epona into high gear and took off like an arrow. The two sides crashed together, Link crying aloud with his sword held high, and the Bulblins waving their clubs and flaming arrows around.

It didn't take long before Bulblins were literally flying off their mounts. It looked like Link and Epona were a bowling ball, and the Bulblins were the pins. But Link's goal was obviously King Bulblin, made all the more so when Link rushed passed a gaggle of smaller Bulblins and headed straight for the King.

The two traded blows and Link successfully struck a blow on the side of the King. The King panicked and dug his feet into the side of the boar he was riding. The boar squealed loudly and took off faster than even Epona was running.

"What a battle, eh?"

'_What the!'_ I nearly jumped out of my skin when the person next to me spoke. I did leap when I got my wits about me. I dropped into a low stance, though I probably wouldn't have been able to defend myself very well from the newcomer. He was bigger than a Goron, and by bigger I mean muscular. "Who are you," I shouted over the rain and the sounds of battle.

"I'm the servant of my Mistress. But you can call me Cratos Katanaké." The man bowed to me, a feat in and of itself since the guy looked so muscular that he looked like he should have been too thick to bend at all. "I know why you have come here and no, you can't help the Chosen Hero. This is his battle, one that cannot be interfered with lest you infringe upon his honor."

I tried to run around the larger man, but he moved quickly, far quicker than I thought he could and knocked me onto the ground. "Why? Why can't she just leave me alone?"

"Because my Mistress wishes it. And you are also to surrender my Mistress' powers back to her."

"And what makes you think that I'm going to do that?" I pulled my Wii-mote from my belt and activated the Aluminum Bat. "I don't think I'm here to surrender anything."

Cratos chuckled, his long braided hair plastered to his armor. _'Armor?'_ I looked Cratos over once more. He was wearing what looked like ancient battle armor similar to what the Japanese Samurai wore. That and something like what the Knights of Europe wore. Together, with the rain and the dark atmosphere and low lighting, Cratos Katanake looked like a knight from hell and a tank rolled into one.

"You have no choice in the matter," he said. "You will surrender the Mistress' powers or I will rip them from your living soul… once I've beaten you to death in single combat, of course."

I raised an eyebrow. "Single combat?"

"Of course," he said seriously. "I cannot just take it from you as you are now. That would be dishonorable."

"I thought your _Mistress_ didn't have any honor."

"It would dishonor her now if I did not defeat you. Now, prepare yourself." Cratos turned toward me and that was when I caught my first glimpse of the rest of him. His right hand was done up in one of the most awesome looking gauntlets I've ever seen. And then my eyes set upon the sword strapped onto his belt. It was humungous; as long as I am tall and as wide as a butcher knife, the strip of metal that Cratos drew from his side was the most spectacular cutting device I'd ever laid eyes on, save for one. "Are you prepared, Ish Valian, for your fate?"

I raised my bat to eye level and was suddenly enraptured by the raindrops falling onto its surface, sliding down its side, and then dripping off the bottom. It didn't occur to me that I was leaving myself open, but I guess Cratos took it upon himself to remind me that I was now in a battle.

His sword cleaved the air with an audible whine and would have taken my head off had the sword not flown several centimeters over my head. Needless to say, my attention was now on Cratos.

"I would not like this battle to be wasted on your incompetence. You will put up a decent fight, after all, it is only honorable and not to mention, logical that you would fight for your life, useless though the effort may be." I swallowed loudly as I felt the rain falling on my new bald spot. The coolness of the water sent shivers down my spine, as did the realization that he hadn't missed on accident.

"N-no! I-I uh… just meant to clear my mind for the fight."

"Very well," he said after a moment. The rain and darkness made it hard to see his facial expressions, but he didn't look all that pleased with the situation, at least, that's what I got from his stance.

I took a deep breath and emptied my mind of thoughts. _'I know I can do this. All I need to do is empty my mind and focus on my opponent's movements. I think this would be a perfect opportunity to use that new ability I have, but… this isn't the kind of battle where defense like that can be utilized very easily. I should stick with attack then. Okay… mmm… mmm… Ichigo Kurosaki!'_

Outside of my mind, the power I'd inherited from the Witch enveloped me in a red hazed. Several seconds later I was standing in front of Cratos with the Celestial Tsurugi clutched firmly in my hands while sporting a spiffy suit of red colored stone armor.

Cratos eyed me; at least I assumed he was eyeing me from behind the darkness of his helmet. "I see, so you've started to utilize the Mistress' power as your own. It isn't too late yet though. The assimilation of power takes quite a while and your own ability with the Power isn't complete."

"I won't be defeated so easily." _'I need to defeat him fast so that the Power doesn't run out before I win. Better get this over with.'_ I circled around Cratos and kept my sword in a defensive upward slant. Cratos kept his own blade in a similar position. He never let his guard down and not once did he even hint in his body language that he was going to attack.

That is why, when the attack came, I wasn't even sure I was hit until I saw my own blood in my hands. The sword had moved so smoothly, the man's form so gracefully, it was perfect swordsmanship, something a novice like me could never hope to compete with. But being an idiot, I let my anger fuel my actions and rushed Cratos.

That encounter, a two hit retaliatory combo, lift me with a gash on my check and bruised tailbone. I grunted and made mistake number two, letting my anger control me again. This time I came away from the encounter with a broken arm and what had to be a concussion.

Cratos dropped his guard, almost taunting me to attack him. "I expected more from one who has mastered the most powerful form of my Mistress' Power. You have obviously not earned the right to wield such power."

'_What does he mean? I… I earned this power. I was… given… oh, that's…' _I shifted the Celestial Tsurugi so that it pointed downward then I leaned on it, having bruises on my legs from some altercation that I didn't see. My broken left arm hung limply at my side. I could feel the pieces of my bones moving about. Through my pain, I glared at Cratos. Then an idea started to from in my head.

"I hate to admit it, but you're right. I haven't earned the right to wield this power. So then, come, finish me off and take back your Witch's precious power. " I watched Cratos absorb my taunt. Apparently he knew it for what it was, but then what I was banking on took effect. He was bound by honor, at least I assumed he was, and I was proven right when large man lifted his sword from the ground and took up a rigid, attack stance. He held his sword high above his head and stood there for a few seconds. I could literally see the water being launched from his arms as the muscles within tightened with stored energy.

'_This is it! I guess I better use my other ability then. It's all I have left. Alright Old Man, it's time to see if your crazy idea of defense works in the real world.'_ I took a deep breath and just as Cratos began to inch forward, the instant he began to move and his sword began its downward sweep, I closed my eyes, cleared my mind once more, and didn't move an inch.

"Oberon!"

I opened my eyes. I watched the sword in Cratos' hands fly downward at speeds that I couldn't even begin to catch up with. It streaked toward my head with all the ferocity of a jet fighter. And passed right through my midsection and buried itself into the dirt. _'NOW!'_

I immediately spun around and using my momentum, did the first thing my instincts told me to do with my sword, I stabbed Cratos in the butt. Strangely enough, the blade of the Celestial Tsurugi found a way through the links of Cratos' armor and sank deep into the layers beneath.

The larger man stiffened. I could tell that he was quite surprised by the turn of events. I pulled my sword roughly from Cratos' rear end and took a weak step backwards. Using that defense ability really did take it out of me like Oberon said it would.

"You have won, Ish Valian. I take my leave of you. But know this, we will battle once more in the future." Cratos exploded into a million dust particles that instantly disappeared. I dropped to the ground, completely exhausted, but happy to be alive.

The sound of shouting pulled my attention from tending to my broken arm to Link on a rearing Epona. The clouds finally broke to show that the sun had come up. The light of the new day shone up on Link and his horse, casting an almost magical radiance about them.

I smiled and turned away. Today we'd won a victory, both me, and Link. Though, I'd have to ask him to explain how Midna was kidnapped.

* * *

I finally finished this chapter. It took a while for some reason that I cannot fathom at this time... 

Oh well, onto the next story. The Symphonian Adventure. Oh, and please review if you could, thanks.

And as always, thank you for reading my work.


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